THE Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) has recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman the filing of administrative and criminal complaints against former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials, including the agency’s former secretary Manuel Bonoan, over a P95-million ghost flood control project in Bocaue, Bulacan.
ICI chairman Andres Reyes said the recommendation also covers former DPWH Bulacan Engineering Office officials Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Ernesto Galang, John Carlo Rivera, John Michael Marcos, Claudine Magdalene Magsakay, Ericka Justine Chico, and Allan Payawal, as well as former undersecretaries Roberto Bernardo and Maria Catalina Cabral.
Reyes said the recommendation was based on the Commission on Audit (COA) technical inspection report, which found that the supposed project, awarded to the joint venture of Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc. and Beam Team Developer Specialist Inc., was never constructed at the designated location indicated in the approved bid plans. Despite this, the contract cost was fully paid.
“It appears that several DPWH public officials were grossly negligent, if not remiss, in the performance of their respective duties to ensure that the project was properly implemented and that government funds were lawfully and prudently disbursed,” Reyes said.
The ICI also earlier recommended the filing of charges against former House appropriations committee chairperson and resigned Ako-Bicol Party-list Representative Elizalde “Zaldy” Co, Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, and Caloocan Second District Representative Mary Mitzi “Mitch” Cajayon-Uy, among others, over their alleged involvement in the flood control projects mess. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)