House panel finds flood control projects prone to insertion

THE House Rules Committee found that P14.5 billion of the P75 billion worth of augmentations to the 2019 national budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was allocated to low-priority flood control projects.

“Out of the P119 billion DPWH budget for flood control projects for 2019, more than P14.5 billion was not from DPWH regular programming,” Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya, Jr. of the 1st district of Camarines Sur said during a public hearing in Naga City on Thursday.

The P14.5 billion allocation was included in the P51-billion insertion legislators identified during budget deliberations at the House of Representatives, which Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno later upgraded to P75 billion.

Mr. Andaya alleged that the DBM made the insertion before the printing of the National Expenditure Program, following consultations with President Rodrigo R. Duterte and his Cabinet.

“It is clear that P14.5-billion for flood control projects was not contained in the budget that Secretary Diokno showed to President (Rodrigo R.) Duterte and members of the Cabinet,” he said.

He said there is no comprehensive plan for flood control projects, unlike priority roads and bridges, which means such projects are prone to insertion.

“The system is centralized for priority roads and bridges, and these are prepared by District Engineers in a menu submitted by DPWH Central to DBM for funding purposes,” he said. “But flood control projects are not in any menu which is why they are easy to insert in the NEP (National Expenditure Program).”

Mr. Andaya alleged that Aremar Construction Corp., owned by the in-laws of Mr. Diokno, used the triple-A rating of contractors like C.T. Leoncio Construction and Trading to bag contracts.

“Triple-A contractors are there to win contracts and led out their licenses to the actual contractor that will undertake the project,” he said. Mr. Andaya then presented a copy of a deposit slip from a winning bidder in Bicol to Aremar Construction.

Mr. Andaya said he asked the Anti-Money Laundering Council to detail the complete bank transactions between C.T. Leoncio and Aremar Construction for its continuing investigation. —