The sinister trail from the epic theft of public funds through “ghost” and substandard flood control projects leads to members of Congress through their minions in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB).

Both agencies are often referred to as playgrounds of corruption, maintained by politicians.

Senator Panfilo Lacson singled out the two government bodies as the main cogs of lawmakers in the overpriced and sometimes nonexistent projects.

He noted that despite repeated offenses, some contractors continued to secure large government contracts, and sometimes through questionable accreditation renewals.

During a Senate interpellation, Lacson criticized the PCAB, an agency under the Department of Trade and Industry, for what he described as an “accreditation-for-sale” scheme.

“If we can conduct a good record check and background investigation and see that a company is blacklisted, we can block its registration as a corporation,” he said.

According to Lacson, private contractors have disclosed that PCAB officials offered to process requirements, such as bank certifications, for a fee of P2 million.

“So, close coordination and cooperation among different agencies of government is best. The agencies should not collude. Instead, they should provide checks and balances,” Lacson emphasized.

Amid a wave of alleged corruption in flood control projects across the country, Lacson has called for greater cooperation and transparency among government agencies to curb what he says is systemic collusion that enables substandard and even non-existent infrastructure projects.

Lacson, speaking days after his 20 August privilege speech, said new reports of irregularities continue to reach his office — each one dismissed as an “isolated case,” but collectively pointing to a deeper issue.

“Isolated case here, isolated case there, isolated cases everywhere. Maybe we should start looking for an isolated case of a corruption-free, properly implemented flood control project,” Lacson quipped in a post on X Thursday morning.

Senate probe intensifies

Senator Risa Hontiveros, responding to Lacson’s speech, questioned how biddings are allegedly fixed to favor select contractors and why accountability remains elusive.

She raised concerns about the effectiveness of blacklisting, noting that banned firms often create new corporate identities to regain access to public contracts.

“The real culprit is collusion,” Lacson replied, as he reiterated the need to strengthen the PCAB’s vetting process, including background checks in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to flag blacklisted companies attempting a re-entry.

Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III supported Lacson’s call, pointing out that a contractor linked to a ghost project in Bulacan — the one inspected by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — had their PCAB license renewed through 2027.

“How could this happen?” Sotto asked, urging longer blacklisting periods and tighter oversight on contractor eligibility.

Legal reforms

Lacson said the time has come to revisit Republic Act 4566, the law that governs contractor licensing. He argued that current policies are outdated and prone to abuse.

“I think we should revisit RA 4566 to check these anomalies. We must update the law,” he said, supporting Sotto’s proposal to extend blacklisting terms to three to five years and limit the number of projects one contractor can take on.

Lacson also warned of contractors using interlocking directorships, where the same individuals sit on the boards of multiple firms, to gain an undue advantage in bidding proceedings. He described this as a tactic used by “unscrupulous corporations that deal with government, particularly on flood control projects.”

He said these issues should be tackled in the upcoming Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings, where the DPWH, PCAB, SEC and other agencies involved will be asked to explain their roles in project implementation and oversight.

“This is a practice committed by unscrupulous corporations that deal with government, particularly flood control projects,” he said.

Independent commission backed

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan backed the creation of an independent commission to investigate the trillion-peso worth of anomalous flood control projects.

In a radio interview on Thursday, Pangilinan emphasized the importance of ensuring transparency, accountability, and the proper use of public funds to protect the most vulnerable communities from floods.

“We support the creation by law of an independent investigative body that will look into these trillion-pesos worth of corrupt flood control projects,” he said, expressing support for Senator Sotto’s Senate Bill No. 1215, which seeks to create an Independent People’s Commission to look into anomalies in all government infrastructure projects.

Pangilinan said that the likes of former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong must lead the commission.

“They should be ashamed. They should be punished. They are guilty, yet they are also angry,” he said of the contractors and government officials involved.

“These people who are embezzling through ghost projects should be prosecuted, and we support the President’s thorough investigation into this,” the senator added.