A construction firm that Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson has tagged in his August 20 privilege speech is not only involved in multi-million-peso worth of non-existent flood projects but is itself allegedly a “ghost” company.
Lacson said Darcy and Anna Builders and Trading can no longer be found in its registered office address in Cardona, Rizal. “Ang contractor na Darcy and Anna Builders, nagmumukhang multo rin. The contractor Darcy and Anna Builders appears to be a ghost company),” he said.
The senator said a cursory search on Google Maps could not locate the construction firm, so one of his staff went for an ocular inspection to its registered address but still found nothing. A gym and an e-payment store were instead operating in the building.
“Wala na rin ang signage ng Darcy and Anna Builders na dating nakakabit sa building (The signage of Darcy and Anna Builders previously displayed outside the building was no longer there),” he added. The company is named after Darcy Kimel D.J. Respicio, who is listed as the general manager.
In his privilege speech, Lacson exposed that the flood control projects this firm had supposedly completed in Bulacan turned out to be “ghost” projects or were substandard.
His team visited several areas in Bulacan to check the said projects contracted by the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH). They discovered that Darcy and Anna Builders’ P77-million riverbank protective structure in Barangay Babatnin in Malolos City was substandard.
Likewise, they also found out that while the project was already completed in 2018, it continued to receive funding from the DPWH in 2021, 2023, and 2024—a “new” strategy that district engineers and contractors could be employing to steal government funds, according to the senator.
Darcy and Anna Builders’ flood control structures in Barangays Carillo and Abulalas—both in Hagonoy, Bulacan and are worth P71.199-million each—were also non-existent.
The firm has been linked to the family of Magbubukid party-list Rep. Ferdinand Beltran, whose daughter Kaye is reportedly managing several construction companies, including Ferdstar Builders Contractors, which has been awarded multiple projects in the province of Pampanga.
Lacson also mentioned another construction firm, the Wawao Builders, which was also allegedly involved in anomalous transactions with the government.
DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan told the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing last August 19 that Wawao Builders—ranked 12th among the Top 15 contractors of flood control projects publicized by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.—cornered P9 billion worth of projects across the country.
In Bulacan alone, Bonoan said the firm bagged P5.9 billion worth of contracts. Wawao Builders, Incorporated is registered in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. It listed a certain Mark Allan Arevalo as one of its directors.
In Lacson’s speech, Wawao Builders was awarded a P77 million riverbank protection structure contract in Barangay Calero in Malolos City, which was supposedly completed in October 2024. But residents interviewed by the senator’s team said construction of the structure started only this year.
It also has ghost flood control projects in Barangay Iba, Hagonoy worth P71.199 million; and another P71.199 million-worth project in Barangay San Nicolas, which has been tagged as completed as of December 2023.
Lacson said he will expose the names of those involved in the “well-organized syndicate” within the DPWH-Bulacan First District Engineering Office once the government launches a formal investigation into the anomalous contracts.
He said his team is still validating its findings in relation to their inspection of flood control projects in the Bicol Region, Davao Peninsula, Western Visayas, and Central Mindanao. He plans to report these during future Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings and the ongoing probe led by Malacañang.
