Sen. Tulfo eyes law vs. subcontracting in gov't projects

Senator Raffy Tulfo on Thursday said he would look into possible amendments to existing laws to get rid of the practice of sub-contracting in government infrastructure projects.

At a Senate budget hearing, Tulfo said the contractor that won the public bidding should be the one to do the work.

"Pag-aaralan po namin kung papalitan po natin 'yung batas tungkol doon sa pasa-pasahan ng kontrata," Tulfo said during the hearing of the Committee on Finance on the proposed P717-billion budget for 2023 of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Tulfo expressed his concern that small contractors hired by the principal contractor are unable to fulfill the responsibility given to them.

"Diyan nagkakaproblema. ‘Yung sina-subcontract doon sa maliit na contractor na wala namang kakahayan na panindigan 'yung sinabi ko na responsibility niya kapag nagkaroon ng bulilyaso,” he said.

(That’s where the problem starts. The subcontractor has no capability to fulfill the responsibility given to it especially in case of complications.)

For his part, Public Works and Highways Secretary Manny Bonoan said he believes there is a policy in the DPWH that subcontractors have to be approved by the department.

“Well, we’ll look into this policy because it’s also included in the Procurement Act that, actually, sub-contract may be allowed in some cases. But it does not relieve actually the principal contractor of the whole responsibility,” he said.

When Senator Sonny Angara said the law must be amended, Tulfo said it is “about time.”

“Kasi lugi po dito ang taumbayan. Kasi nga sinabi ko naman po kanina ‘yung principal ipapasa niya po 'yun sa pangalawang contractor. Siyempre si principal kahit wala siyang ginawa, laway lang sa kanya, papel lang, magkakaroon siya ng cut,” he said.

(Because this is a loss for the people. I said earlier that the principal will just pass the work to a subcontractor. Of course, even if the principal contractor does nothing and only gives the contract, the principal contractor will still receive a cut of the profit.)

Tulfo also urged the DPWH to require all its contractors to give liability insurance worth at least P1 million to their employees.

“Kung puwede po sana i-require po lahat ng contractor ninyo na magkaroon po ng liability insurance. Kasi sa aking karanasan, maraming beses na po nangyari ‘yun pong mga trabahador ng mga contractors, gumagawa ng kalsada, na disgrasya… and yet hindi po nababayaran. Pahirapan. Paikayan,” he said.

(If you can, require all your contractors to have liability insurance. Based on my experience, there are employees of contractors who don't receive anything after they had an accident on the job.)

“So dapat po kung magkakaroon ng liability insurance at least minimum of P1 million. Ayun po ang gusto ko,” he said.

Bonoan said he will look into the provisions of the Procurement Act.  —KBK, GMA News