Dizon ready to lose all DEs in DPWH: ‘I don’t care!’

Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon urged erring district engineers to admit their corrupt practices after the discovery of another ghost project in Davao Occidental by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) involving the construction company of contractor couple Curlee and Sarah Discayas.

Based on ICI data, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, owned by the Discayas, contracted P96.5 million for a concrete revetment project in Barangay Culaman, Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental, sometime in 2022.

The ICI found that the project had been fully paid for since 2022 and was marked as completed by DPWH Region XI.

However, during interviews conducted by the ICI, headed by special advisor and investigator Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, residents and the barangay captain of Culaman revealed that contractors only began construction three weeks ago.

“This is a project under the previous administration,” the ICI ruled.

Upon checking the DPWH website, all procurement monitoring reports in 2022 in the province were signed by District Engineer Rodrigo C. Larete.

This prompted an ultimatum from Dizon to the district engineer of the region.

“You can run, but you cannot hide. Sa DE at regional director, magsabi na kayo. Huwag nyo nang hintayin na umabot pa sa ganito. Lumapit na kayo, magsalita na kayo dahil mahuhuli at mahuhuli din kayo. Wala akong pakialam kahit maubos na lahat ng DE at RD sa Pilipinas! Kung kailangan mubos kayong lahat, uubusin namin kayo. Pero ipo-promote natin ang mga maaayos at hindi ginagawa ang korapyson na gaya nito,” Dizon said.

Earlier, Dizon filed charges of malversation through falsification of public documents; violation of Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; and RA 12009, or the New Government Procurement Act, before the Office of the Ombudsman against dismissed Bulacan First District Engineering Office (DEO) engineer Henry Alcantara; Bulacan 1st DEO assistant engineers Brice Hernandez and Jay Mendoza; and 13 others, for their alleged involvement in anomalous flood control projects in Bulacan.

On 19 September, the Ombudsman immediately suspended the 16 DPWH personnel.