SCUTTLEBUTT

The stink from corruption would be hard to keep hidden in a bottle, as Nosy Tarsee found out recently.

A list of government projects, detailing the millions in taxpayer funds that went to infrastructure projects in a Metro Manila city, involved erring contractors, particularly the Discaya couple, Curlee and Sara.

The projects involved a member of the Senate who inserted billions, even trillions of pesos for flood control projects in his turf.

Based on the list, eight government projects, each with a minimum budget of P91 million, were awarded to Discaya-owned Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor and Development Corp. and St. Timothy Construction Corp. These projects involved slope protection and the establishment of pumping stations, which are related to flood control.

The list also offered a glimpse of a broader pattern of irregularities in flood mitigation infrastructure, where over 9,800 projects worth more than P545 billion were funded early during the Marcos administration.

The flood-prone urban area in Metro Manila had been allocated multiple projects, but identical-cost entries were bundled within the National Capital Region’s 3,500 flagged items.

The pattern of identical pricing and sub-P100 million thresholds raises red flags for corruption, including “ghost projects” that reportedly cost over P100 billion.

“And yet, he speaks so righteously as if he had nothing to do with the flood control corruption. Shameful. If you add up what’s on the list, it amounts to billions, possibly even trillions. It looks like this one can’t be solved with just a pray-over,” the source said.

The uniformity in project costs at exactly P75 million or P100 million points to systemic manipulation rather than genuine engineering assessments.

During budget deliberations, lawmakers insert “line items” for their pet projects in their districts or allied areas, often without detailed studies.

These insertions favor political allies, leading to cookie-cutter budgeting where costs are standardized to fit templates.

In revealing the 15 contractors who secured P100 billion in contracts over the past three years, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. cited identical costs as facilitating easier kickback schemes. He pointed out, “50 projects all costing the same, that’s impossible.”

The National Expenditure Program (NEP) listed 15,000 DPWH flood control entries, many of which were added after the DPWH had made its proposals. Identical costs mask overpricing or under-delivery, as seen in nationwide examples where projects on varied terrains had the same price despite differing scopes.

The sub-P100 million costs of all the projects in the city were tied to procurement rules designed to expedite approvals, which ironically enabled the abuse.

Under Republic Act 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act, projects below P100 million qualify for “small value procurement” or negotiated methods, bypassing a competitive public bidding. This speeds up awards but allows district offices to rubber-stamp deals with minimal oversight.

Before 2022, DPWH district offices were capped at P100-million approvals. Post-2022 increases to P150 million led to more identical entries just under the old limits, like P75 to P99 million, to exploit the loophole.

Keeping costs under P100 million avoids an escalation to regional or central DPWH levels, which require more rigorous reviews, including environmental clearances and cost-benefit analyses.

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) has proposed slashing district caps to P75 million to curb this, citing how it fueled 421 ghost projects nationwide, many in Luzon.

To multiply allocations, large initiatives (e.g., the comprehensive Taguig river rehabilitation) were fragmented into dozens of tiny, identical sub-projects (e.g., drainage along [street name]). This inflated the project count for political credit while keeping individual costs low, but it resulted in inefficient, patchwork flood defenses — exacerbating the inundation of low-lying barangays.

Further, Nosy Tarsee was informed that, according to the list, 64 government projects were completed in the senator’s city, covering the period from July 2022 to February 2025.

“The ICI should investigate this, the Ombudsman, too. The people are angry. This corruption is too much!” Nosy Tarsee was told.