COA cites ‘lack of manpower’ for unchecked anomalous flood control projects

The Commission on Audit Commissioner (COA) on Monday said that its lack of personnel, particularly in the first district of Bulacan, was one of the reasons why the ghost and substandard flood control projects were not immediately flagged.

During the Senate Committee on Finance’s deliberations on the commission’s proposed 2026 budget, COA chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba noted that they only have two personnel assigned in the 1st District Engineering Office in Bulacan, where some of the biggest anomalies in flood control projects were discovered. 

“Ang amin pong napansin on our side, kailangan po namin siguro ng tulong niyo, would be lack of manpower. Like for example ang pinag-uusapan dito is ang pinaka-epicenter po ng nangyari nito is 1st District Engineering Office of Bulacan… Ito pong flood control when we analyzed it, 20% of the full amount ay nasa Region 3 and almost 50% of that amount is in Bulacan,” Cordoba said. 

(What we noticed on our side, maybe you can help us with this, would be lack of manpower. For example, the epicenter of what’s happening now is in the 1st District Engineering Office of Bulacan... When we analyzed the flood control issue, we found out that 20% of the full amount was in Region 3 and almost 50% of that amount was in Bulacan.) 

“So when we checked doon sa ground, napansin namin we only have two auditors in the 1st District Engineering Office of Bulacan—‘yung team leader at kanyang assistant team leader. Bumaba po kasi ang aming number of positions dahil nabawasan kami ng DBM,” he added. 

(So when we checked on the ground, we noticed that we only have two auditors in the 1st District Engineering Office of Bulacan—the team leader and the assistant team leader. Our number of positions decreased because our budget was reduced by the DBM.) 

According to Cordoba, the two auditors assigned in Bulacan’s 1st District handled 11 municipalities and three cities, as well as eight offices of the Land Transportation Office (LTO). 

To help address the issue, he said the COA conducted a fraud audit into the questionable flood control projects implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Bulacan. 

Cordoba said COA has already issued 21 fraud audit reports in the 1st District—eight of which were already submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman, while others were already forwarded to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).

“‘Yung una naming sinubmit namin na walo ay naging basis ng administrative suspension nung mga employees, personnel ng DPWH sa 1st District ng Bulacan,” Cordoba explained.

(The first batch we submitted was the basis of the administrative suspension of DPWH employees and personnel in the 1st District of Bulacan.) 

Some of the infamous DPWH officials in Bulacan's 1st District being implicated in the flood control scandal are dismissed engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza. 

The trio is currently detained in Senate premises after being cited in contempt by the Blue Ribbon Committee last month. — RF, GMA Integrated News