BACOLOD City Lone District Representative Alfredo Abelardo Benitez confirmed that the Legacy Construction Corporation, which topped the list of contractors released by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., had six projects in the city from 2022 to 2024.
Benitez said of the six projects, with a budget of at least P600 million, five were already completed while one is still ongoing.
He said the Legacy Construction Corporation is also the contractor for the city’s legislative building as well as the Bacolod General Hospital in Barangay Vista Alegre.
He added that Legacy Construction Corporation is a homegrown contractor from Victorias City, Negros Occidental.
Benitez noted that he was informed that about 22 percent of the city’s flood control projects were awarded to Legacy Construction Corporation.
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. earlier announced that 20 percent of the total budget, or roughly P100 billion, for flood control projects went to only 15 contractors.
The 15 contractors include Legacy Construction Corporation; Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp.; St. Timothy Construction Corporation; QM Builders; EGB Construction Corporation; Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc.; Centerways Construction and Development Inc.; Sunwest, Inc.; Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp.; Triple 8 Construction & Supply, Inc.; Royal Crown Monarch Construction & Supplies Corp.; Wawao Builders; MG Samidan Construction; L.R. Tiqui Builders, Inc.; and Road Edge Trading & Development Services.
“The President mentioned this without saying that they have anomalies. He just said that these are the top 15 corporations that have been awarded projects nationwide,” Benitez said.
He said of these 15 contractors, five had projects in almost all regions nationwide.
These five contractors include Legacy Construction Corporation; Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp.; St. Timothy Construction Corporation; EGB Construction Corporation; and Road Edge Trading & Development Services.
Moreover, Benitez said the officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Negros Island Region (NIR) also held a meeting on Tuesday, August 12, along with the district engineers, to assess and review all of the flood control projects they have implemented since 2022.
Benitez earlier issued a statement that while a thorough evaluation of these projects is being conducted, the government should impose a temporary blacklist on any contractor with a history of unfinished, substandard, or grossly delayed flood control projects until they are cleared of wrongdoing.
He said this will immediately protect the budget from further waste while emphasizing that incompetence and corruption will have immediate consequences.
Benitez said concrete solutions to the flooding problem begin by identifying those who may have failed to execute projects intended to protect communities and reduce the damage caused by heavy rains and typhoons. (MAP)