21 DPWH officials, 2 contractors sued over flood control projects worth P276 million total

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has filed malversation and graft charges against 21 DPWH officials and two contractors before the Office of the Ombudsman over flood control projects in La Union and Davao Occidental worth P276 million in total.

These are P96.5 million worth of ghost projects in Davao Occidental and two phases of the unfinished flood control projects in La Union worth P89.7 million each.

"The Davao Occidental project was never completed. And the construction that was started there was started only last August of this year, already three years since the supposed completion and full payment of the project. So it is clearly a ghost project," DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said. 

"On the other hand, this La Union project, again, is a substandard project. Again, fully paid but not yet completed," he added.

The contractor for the Davao Occidental project is St. Timothy Construction, owned by Curlee and Sarah Discaya, while the contractor for the La Union project is Silverwolves Construction.

“Ang ibig sabihin noon lahat ng bidding, lahat ng pag-implement ng proyekto, ‘yung pagbayad sa mga kontratista ay nangyari sa level ng district engineering office. Lahat ang pagbayad, pag-approve, pag-certify,” Dizon said.

(All the bidding, project implementation, paying the contractors, all of these happen at the district engineering office. All the payments, approval and certification.)

“Iyan muna ang initial na pwede nating kasuhan dahil ‘yan ang pinapakita sa atin ng ebidensya,” Dizon added.

(Those are the initial persons we sued because it is where the evidence leads us.)

Likewise, Dizon and Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said the Ombudsman will also probe allegations that Benguet Lone District Representative Eric Yap is a beneficial owner of Silverwolves Construction and that Davao Occidental Rep. Claude Bautista’s involvement in the ghost project in his jurisdiction.

“A person of interest here is Congressman Eric Yap who is known to be the beneficial owner of the company (Silverwolves). He divested from it a few years ago, supposedly, but there is reason to suspect that he's still the beneficial owner of the company, so there's a clear case of conflict of interest also, punishable also under Republic Act 3019 (Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices),” Remulla said.

Yap served as the House committee on appropriations chairman from 2020 to 2022.

“We will also look into the allegations that Claude  Bautista, the congressman from there, at that time, I think, siya pa yung congressman, is the beneficial owner of the construction company,” Remulla added. — BM, GMA Integrated News