MG Samidan: ‘We don’t do bribes’

Construction firm MG Samidan is pushing back against allegations it used political connections and bribes to corner billion-peso flood control projects.

“Wala po kaming binibigay. We don’t give bribes,” said Kevin Samidan, son of company owner Marjorie Olsim Samidan, in an exclusive interview. “Our projects are completed, no ghost projects, and our profits are within the 8-10 percent contractor’s margin allowed by law.”

The company’s name surfaced after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed a list of 15 contractors that bagged nearly P100 billion in flood control projects — a disclosure that fueled suspicions of systemic abuse in Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects.

Critics quickly pointed to its corporate records that showed MG Samidan Construction and Development Corporation had only P250,000 in paid-up capital, raising doubts about its qualification to bid for billion-peso contracts.

But Samidan insisted this was misleading.

The corporation, he explained, is inactive and not used to bid for projects. The operating entity is MG Samidan Construction, a sole proprietorship that has been licensed since 2008.

He pointed to documents to back this up, including the firm’s Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board license under the General Engineering category; audited financial statements reflecting P1.8 billion in total assets with P1.7 billion in current assets; and its Department of Trade and Industry registration under the name Marjorie Samidan.

He also pointed out that the company has completed 61 projects from 2020 to 2024, including flood control works in Ilocos Norte.

As for its financial capacity, Samidan said contractors are judged by their Net Financial Contracting Capacity (NFCC), not their paid-up capital.

With P1.7 billion in current assets and P378 million in liabilities, MG Samidan’s NFCC stands at about P1.3 billion — more than enough to qualify for large-scale projects.

“A sole proprietorship doesn’t have paid-up capital like a corporation,” he explained. “What matters is the NFCC, and ours is strong enough.”

Past project delays, he said, were due to weather disruptions validated by PAGASA reports, with all the projects eventually completed.

Still, the bigger issue looms over the industry itself: lawmakers, not engineers, often dictate which projects the DPWH will build, raising questions about budget insertions, padrino (sponsor) politics, and whether certain contractors benefit from political ties.

But Samidan was adamant their company is not part of that system.

“Confident kami na lahat ng (all our) projects namin ay natapos (were completed). We compete fairly, and sometimes we win. But bribery? Wala kaming ginagawa na ganoon (We don’t do that),” he said.