House panel opens probe on 'flood control scam,' budget anomalies

The House Committee on Rules will open on Thursday the investigation into the supposed flood control scam and the supposed anomalies and questionable allocations of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya, who also chairs the committee, called for the probe following their investigation on the effects of the cash-based budgeting system, where they found out that a supposedly favored contractor, CT Leoncio Construction and Trading, bagged "billions of pesos in contracts" for projects in several provinces in the country.

According to Andaya, CT Leoncio Construction and Trading simultaneously bagged contracts in Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Samar, the National Capital Region, Camarines Sur, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Batangas, Bulacan and Davao City since 2017.

Andaya also presented a certification from the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that CT Leoncio Trading and Construction is not a corporation and a contract showing that Consolacion Tubuhan Leoncio has the sole proprietorship of the company.

Andaya alleged that at least four infrastructure projects worth P550 million have alleged  links to the in-laws of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The DBM likewise allegedly inserted P325-million worth of projects in Casiguran, Sorsogon, Andaya said, which he believes is where the "parked funds" to be used for the 2019 elections are hidden.

Diokno's affinity to the mayor of Casiguran, Sorsogon, who is running for reelection this year, could have been the reason that such allocation was given to the town, Andaya said.

He pointed out that Casiguran mayor Edwin Hamor is married to Ester Hamor, incumbent Vice Governor of Sorsogon and the mother of the husband of Diokno's daughter.

"This recent discovery of P325-million allocation for new projects in Casiguran for 2019 raises a red flag as pieces of evidence already uncovered point to Secretary Diokno's in-laws as the real beneficiaries of infrastructure projects in Sorsogon," Andaya said.

Andaya said these multi-million peso projects in Casiguran could be for flood mitigation.

He said that P114.4 billion out of the P544.5-billion budget allocated for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are for flood-control projects --- a 24-percent increase from its allocation under the 2018 budget.

All these issues, Andaya said, will be tackled during the House panel hearing.

The House panel has already summoned the individuals allegedly involved in the "flood control" scam and the alleged anomalous transactions of CT Leoncio Construction and Trading, including its sole proprietor Consolacion Leoncio and several DPWH officials.

Andaya also earlier said the panel would invite Diokno to the hearing.

Diokno has already denied the allegations being thrown at him.

"In the matters of that state I have no relatives, I have no friends... I'm very objective, unbiased. I don't talk business with anybody except the line departments," Diokno said.

The first hearing of the House panel on the matter will be held in Avenue Plaza Hotel in Naga City. — BAP, GMA News