Eyes that glitter

Those light-emitting diodes (LED) on the road that guide motorists did not come cheap, and they may be a potentially explosive extension of the ongoing flood control controversy.

The alleged overpricing of solar road studs, commonly known as “cat’s eyes” or reflective pavement markers, in Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects may hit a broader swathe of Congress, according to a reliable source.

It may implicate not just DPWH officials but potentially dozens of Congress members in kickbacks, syndicated corruption, and budget insertions.

With solar studs quoted at P11,000 to P11,720 per unit against the market price of P88 to P420 each on platforms like Lazada, plus installation costs under P300, for a total of P1,800 each shows a disparity that suggests massive fund diversion, echoing the ghost flood control projects in Bulacan and Oriental Mindoro.

The scandal could involve billions in taxpayer losses, fueling calls for an independent probe beyond Congress.

Road studs are designed to enhance highway safety, providing LED illumination via solar panels to guide drivers at night or in low visibility conditions.

DPWH guidelines, as outlined in Department Order 19 (2023), promote the use of the studs for energy efficiency on national roads.

Making the device mandatory created new opportunities for irregularities, turning them into a vector for corruption.

For a 552-kilometer (km) stretch covering the Manila to Sorsogon route, which requires 5.52 million studs for a single lane, the overprice could siphon off P7 billion alone.

Nationwide installations likely multiply the kickback into the tens of billions of pesos, part of the DPWH’s P254 billion 2025 flood and infrastructure budget.

The overpricing of project components is across the board: yellow barriers that cost P20,000 per meter are billed at P127,320, which is a P107,320 overprice, and rock netting at P18,000 per square meter actually costs P4,000 per sqm.

Much of the overprice went to line proponents’ pockets, which former Philippine National Police chief and Senator Panfilo Lacson estimated at 35 percent to as much as 65 percent of the project cost, which is divided among members of Congress and DPWH officials, with district engineers acting as the bagmen.

Contracts for cat’s eyes are awarded through public bidding under Republic Act 9184; however, insiders have alleged that auctions are rigged to favor crony firms.

Nationwide, installations span Luzon to Mindanao, amplifying the scale amid the DPWH’s P189 billion to P224 billion bicameral conference committee insertions in the 2024 and 2025 national budgets.

A Commission on Audit (CoA) report flagged non-compliance, with projects like Batangas road rehabilitation works showing substandard or uninstalled studs despite full payment.

The source said that while most legislators have avoided flood control projects for pork barrel allocations, as these are very blatant in terms of kickbacks, they have indulged themselves in contracts for pavement markers, believing they would be less liable.

Unfortunately for them, the plunder of public funds does not discriminate based on the type of projects involved.

Big or small, the funds stolen belong to the people, who are the only ones who should benefit from these.