‘Probe anomalies at Baguio eng’g office’

BAGUIO CITY – Contractors called for a “honest-to-goodness” probe on corruption at the city engineering office following the arrest of two engineers for alleged extortion last Wednesday.

A contractor for 10 years, who asked not to be identified, said, “There should be a full investigation at the (city engineering office) for the city to find out anomalous dealings there. Without the city officials’ action, we cannot rid the department of corrupt practices.”

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) caught assistant city engineer Elpidio Garabiles, 56, in possession of P10,000 marked money allegedly for city engineer Leo Bernardez’s trip to Bicol.

The money was handed over by contractor Rudy Echague to engineer II Richard Lardizabal at the city engineering office at City Camp Lagoon. Lardizabal, in turn, gave the money to Garabiles who placed it in his drawer.

NBI agents led by Abner Dotimas and special investigator Edwin Fianza arrested Garabiles and Lardizabal and charged them with robbery and extortion and violation of the anti-graft and corruption law.

Echague alleged that employees of the city engineering office had been extorting from him sums of money, bottles of brandy and other things in exchange of favors from them.

“We have given them at least P80,000, and our project is only worth P2.4 million,” he said.  

Echague sought the NBI’s help when Lardizabal allegedly demanded P10,000 from him supposedly for Bernardez’s Bicol trip, when he tried to collect his “10 percent retention fee” amounting to less than P200,000 for a project.

“It is high time that an investigation take place,” the contractor told The STAR.

Bernardez has denied any knowledge of anomalies in his office.