Vince Dizon asks NBI, biz groups to background-check, vet DPWH execs

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has requested the National Bureau of Investigation and private sector groups to assist the Department of Public Works and Highways to check the backgrounds of at least 14 undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of the agency.

In separate letters sent to National Bureau of Investigation Director Jaime Santiago, Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) chairperson Benedicta Du-Baladad, Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) president Alfredo Panlilio, and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) president Consul Enunina Mangio, Dizon asked the organizations’ “assistance in vetting and providing any information you may have regarding the appointees listed in [this letter].”

In particular, the DPWH chief is seeking for an independent vetting and background-check of the following:

• Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain
• Undersecretary Arthur Bisnar
• Undersecretary Nicasio Conti
• Undersecretary Charles Calima
• Undersecretary Samuel Rufino Turgano
• Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe III
• OIC-Undersecretary Lara Marisse Esquibil
• Assistant Secretary Nerie Bueno
• Assistant Secretary Medmier Malig
• Assistant Secretary Michael Villafranca
• Assistant Secretary Constante Llanes Jr.
• Assistant Secretary Michelle de Vera
• Assistant Secretary Suzanne Marie Liwanag

Dizon’s call for an independent background-check of DPWH executives came on the heels of the irrevocable resignation of Undersecretary Arrey Perez after Rep. Leandro Leviste identified him as among those he claimed as having ties with contractors involved in the flood control corruption scandal.

Leviste later on back-tracked with his allegations against Perez, saying that the latter was “not the same person who allegedly met with three contractors in the restaurant."

Dizon said his call for the NBI and private groups to assist the DPWH in vetting its executives forms part of the ongoing “clean-sweep” of the agency in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order to purge corrupt officials. —AOL, GMA Integrated News