“Hindi ko po alam.”
“Hindi po namin kilala.”
So did some officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) answer the Sangguniang Panlalawigan during a committee hearing on the matter of the 51 terminated long-time job order employees and “floating” engineers at the Catanduanes District Engineering Office.
The members of the joint meeting of the Committee on Infrastructure and Committee on Justice had invited newly assumed OIC-District Engineer Vivian Biaco and several section chiefs to shed light on the issue as well as the heavy influence being wielded by a woman dubbed as either “Lady Gaga” or “Sandara.”
Biaco, the Northern Samar assistant district engineer who as appointed to the Virac post by then Sec, Manuel Bonoan before he was sacked, can be forgiven for her lack of knowledge of the mass termination and reassignments.
With only five days on the job as of the committee meeting, she did not have a clear idea of who is the local namesake of the famous American singer or Korean actress.
But surely, her predecessor, former DE Simon Arias, must have given her a heads-up on who really wields power at the Catanduanes district office based on his largely unlamented stint that lasted for just 14 months.
He must have briefed her on what to expect once she set foot inside the DPWH compound at San Isidro Village, where for years now district engineers have become mere collectors of commissions for sitting Congress representatives.
The fact that the Catanduanes DEO has had five district engineers in just four years from 2022 to 2025 speaks volumes about the toxic atmosphere in which they work.
OIC-DE Biaco’s companions could also be pardoned for feigning ignorance of the woman’s real identity, the high likelihood of being reassigned to an obscure corner of the DPWH suppressing whatever remains of their responsibility to tell the truth.
It is like the idiomatic elephant in the room, a huge animal that everyone is aware of, its existence unacknowledged.
The DPWH officials knew the answer to PBM Edwin Tanael’s question but chose not to answer as the correct response could prove to be consequentially inconvenient, uncomfortable or even dangerous.
It is easy to understand their reaction, unlike the honorable members of the Senate and the House of Representatives who are now embroiled in the investigation of the trillion-peso flood control anomalies.
The response of the 67 congressmen tagged by Senator Ping Lacson as politician-contractors as well as several senators and representatives who are claimed to have received kickbacks from contractors undertaking ghost or overpriced flood control projects can be reduced to just one sentence: “Wala kaming kinalaman diyan.”
Which is also understandable, considering that they could be dragged into the mess once the Investigation Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) begins its probe into alleged corruption and misuse of funds in government infrastructure projects, particularly flood control initiatives.
Just over a year ago, the island province’s representative rendered his report on his accomplishments for 2023, citing the “flood control structures, sea walls, dikes, slope protection, drainage systems at marami pang iba.”
“Pangunahin po sa mga iyan ang pagpapatuloy ng Imelda Boulevard, at Pajo River flood control project dito sa Virac; pati na yung flood control project sa Paraiso sa bayan ng San Miguel; flood mitigation structure sa Batong Paloway sa bayan ng San Andres; river control sa Bato, at yung construction of road dike along Hitoma river sa bayan ng Caramoran,” he said.
Apparently, Rep. Rodriguez knew about the generally useless road dikes built by Hi-Tone Construction along isolated farmlands and mountains in faraway Obi in Caramoran where the DPWH allotted P1.1 billion in flood control funds from 2022 to 2025.
Like Cong. Elizaldy Co, the island’s representative can no longer feign ignorance about the misplaced and possibly anomalous flood control projects in Catanduanes.
Like the lady who must not be named, the starring role of the honorable members of both houses of Congress in the flood control controversy is mostly hinted at in the hearings of the two probe bodies dancing around the issue of culpability.
When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called out those responsible in the mess in his “Mahiya naman kayo” SONA, senators and congress representatives are seen lustily clapping.
Their minds were probably directing their hands to applaud the president and at the same time doubling down on their knee-jerk response: “Wala kaming kinalaman diyan.”