Lacson bares ‘toll fee-like’ scheme in flood control projects involving solons

The exposé of “passing through fees” or toll fee-like payments in flood control projects involving Congressmen in the House of Representatives and erring personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways was revealed by opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson, adding to the overpricing or substandard construction—or both—of flood control and other government infrastructure projects.

The exposé follows his revelation days ago that 67 members of the House of Representatives in 2022 were allegedly contractors of their own government-funded infrastructure projects.

According to Lacson, the “passing through” hullabaloo happens if a contractor has to pay five to six percent of the project cost for a project in a legislative district where the lawmaker is a contractor, or where the lawmakers’ relatives are contractors.

“For example, if a contractor builds a project in the district of a lawmaker who is a contractor or who has relatives who are contractors, he/she must pay a five-percent ‘passing through’ fee, like a toll. That was already deducted from the cost of the project. This is known in the Department of Public Works and Highways,” Lacson said during his radio interview on Sunday.

Further, he said the fee is usually five percent, but sometimes it goes up to six.

“Based on the information we got from contractors, the project is compromised. How will the contractor be compensated if he/she does not use substandard materials or take shortcuts? The government is thus shortchanged,” the lawmaker said.

He said only a petty 40 percent of the budget goes to the actual construction of the projects, and the remaining goes to the corrupt officials.

He cited as an example the “shortcut” in the sectioning of a dike or flood control mitigation project, where the project specifications call for 150 meters, but the contractor completes only 50 meters.

Lacson further revealed that in other cases, the contractor does not follow project specifications to drive sheet piles six meters into the ground, but only drives them three meters into the ground.

“The dike will be easily damaged because the contractor scrimps on materials,” Lacson said.

Moreover, another case involves not mixing gravel with sand, thus weakening the foundation of a flood control project.

Lacson also noted that these fees force contractors to pare down their profit margins to 10 percent instead of 15 percent.

But he said what is worse is the cost to human lives when such projects fail. “People die during floods brought by cyclones. That is the worst part,” he said.

As of Saturday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that 37 lives perished due to the onslaught of the combined effects of the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) and tropical cyclones Crising, Dante, and Emong, also affecting 9,530,350 residents.