'Hit them where it hurts': Pangilinan eyes financial liability vs flood control contractors

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan called on relevant government agencies to initiate claims against warranties and performance bonds tied to flood control projects that have failed to deliver on their intended outcomes, particularly in light of the recent widespread flooding that affected several provinces.

In his interpellation during the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing on the anomalous flood control projects on Thursday, 18 Sept., Pangilinan inquired from Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon about the status of the performance bonds and warranties of the substandard projects currently being subjected to the investigation.

"They should be punished with criminal cases, but they should also be punished financially because there are bonds that must be answered, and you are saying that tens of billions need to be returned," he said.

"You know what they say, hit them where it hurts," he added.

This was after Dizon informed Pangilinan that warranty claims had already been initiated against some of the contractors of the anomalous flood control projects, and that these warranties and performance bonds could add up to tens of billions to hundreds of billions of pesos.

Earlier, the senator had already urged the government to enforce warranties, penalties, and surety bonds—most of which run for as long as five years—from flood control contractors, insisting that “monetary punishment” would be “fast and immediate.”

He also expressed hopes that the hearing into the anomalous deals will ferret out the truth about the corruption in the government’s infrastructure projects.

"The hearings will continue despite the changes in the leadership of the committee. What do we expect? The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."