EDITORIAL - Midnight deals

MANILA, Philippines - After President Aquino announced that the previous administration had tried to award P3.5 billion worth of flood control projects without bidding just five days before the handover of power, the new chief of the Department of Public Works and Highways canceled 19 of the 86 deals. The 19, involving P934 million, were the ones that came closest to pushing through.

Apart from canceling the deals, the new administration must go through the list of contractors that were awarded the projects, to see if any should be placed on a blacklist. Negotiated deals cannot be won without the right connections; the new administration must also identify every DPWH official who was involved in awarding the contract.

At the National Food Authority, officials who were responsible for the importation of what the current administration describes as excessive amounts of rice, some of which were allowed to rot in warehouses, will reportedly be subjected to lifestyle checks. This should also be done at the DPWH, starting with the officials who awarded the midnight deals on flood control.

The flood control deals were signed on June 18, ahead of the special allotment release order that came out on June 25. Officials said the SARO should have come ahead of the signing of the contracts for the projects that were supposed to be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. New Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said JICA had informed him that the DPWH had imposed a policy of awarding the projects through negotiated contracts.

Of the 19 contracts, the costliest was for a flood control project in Sitio Bato, Barangay San Vicente in San Manuel, Pangasinan, amounting to nearly P228.750 million. The contract was awarded to Northern Builders. Such an amount would warrant the filing of a plunder case if the new administration stands pat on its claim that the deal was anomalous. This case should serve as a good start to prove that under the watch of Benigno Aquino III, there is no more room for tong–pats or fat commissions.