PH losing trillions to anomalous flood control projects - Dizon

More than 100 infra reported as 'ghost,' 'very substandard'

- DHEL NAZARIO, HANNAH L. TORREGOZA, and TRIXEE ROSEL

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon said on Thursday, Sept. 18, that the government may have lost trillions due to anomalous flood control projects.

In his interpellation during the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing on the anomalous flood control projects, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan called for 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.

Pangilinan inquired about the status of the performance bonds and warranties for the substandard projects currently under investigation.

“Dapat silang parusahan sa kasong kriminal pero dapat din silang parusahan doon sa pinansyal na mayroong bonds na dapat sumagot at sinasabi ninyo na tens of billions na kailangan isauli (They should be punished with criminal charges, but they should also be penalized financially, since there are bonds that should answer for this, and you're saying tens of billions need to be returned),” Pangilinan said.

“Sabi nga nila (Like they said), ‘You hit them where it hurts,’” he added.

This was after Dizon informed the senator 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, Pangilinan 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.”