Included in the list of 15 contractors which got 20% of the total P545 billion budget for flood control projects that President Ferdinand ”Bongbong” Marcos Jr. disclosed on Monday are two companies well-known in the Bicol region.
These are Sunwest, Inc. (formerly Sunwest Construction & Development Corp.) and Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp., which are owned by the family of Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co.
The president’s bombshell came during Malacanang’s unveiling of a dedicated website, sumbongsapangulo,ph, that allows Filipinos to report on the status of flood control projects, whether they actually exist, are functioning properly, or have encountered issues.
Citizens can submit photo and video evidence and they have the option to remain anonymous as the platform does not require personal details.
Using the website’s filtering options, one can locate specific projects in their areas by region, province or city, type of work, and funding year.
The Bicol region had the third largest share of the flood control projects and funding, with 866 projects worth a total of P49.61 billion.
A cursory check of the list of projects implemented in Catanduanes from 2022 to 2024 shows that 18 contractors implemented a total of 46 flood control and seawall projects during the period.
And topping the list with 11 projects was a local construction company, and not the two firms belonging to the Co family.
However, Sunwest and Hi-Tone accounted for P684 million or 37 percent of the total budget for Catanduanes projects, just from six projects. The balance was undertaken by 16 other construction firms, including one belonging to the family of Congressman Eulogio Rodriguez.
And it is not certain if the list posted on the Malacanang website is complete, unless one cross-references it with the list of projects implemented by the DPWH regional office and its district offices on its own website.
Surely, it would not be correct to assume right away that one or most of the projects completed in Catanduanes are not up to standard specifications and thus tinted with corruption.
What is important is for the residents of the barangays where the projects were constructed to verify that the projects exist and are actually functioning as intended.
The launching of the website is an offshoot of PBBM’s “mahiya naman kayo” call during the SONA that many believe was directed at senators and congress representatives who allocate funds for their favorite projects, either through the normal budgeting process or later “insertions.”
While asking the people to check the projects on the list looks good for PR purposes, it only brings to light irregularities committed in the prosecution of the projects.
Hell, it may not even lead to any member of the House or the Senate being charged with graft, as the politicians, their pet contractors and conspirators in the DPWH are expected to hide or shut their mouths.
The best move for the Marcos administration would be to expand its Third Party Monitoring (TPM) system, now covering all projects under the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) for local government units, to include all infrastructure projects being implemented by DPWH and other agencies like the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the Local Water Utilities Administration ( LWUA).
If this cannot be done, the very least the president can do is to prohibit DPWH regional offices from implementing projects altogether (they bid out projects costing P100 million and up).
Why? Because most, if not all, of the regional projects escape public scrutiny, with the engineers of the district offices not allowed to interfere in its implementation, much less call the region’s attention to violations of contract specifications.
True, the DPWH regional office assigns project engineers to oversee the contractors’ work but all of them are based at the regional office and often stay at the project site for only a day, boarding the ferry to the mainland the next day.
This lack of oversight by the implementing office is likely the real reason why the quality of the Virac boulevard bridge girders is now under question and the highway repair project along the CatSU main campus is way behind schedule.