The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) has recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate potential violations committed by former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The ICI pointed specifically to the roles played by former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, as well as Undersecretaries Roberto Bernardo and Maria Catalina Cabral, in relation to the controversial P72-million flood control project in Plaridel, Bulacan.
On Tuesday, ICI Chairman Andres Reyes said the commission will be submitting an Interim Report and Recommendation to the Ombudsman regarding the said flood control project carried out by the DPWH Bulacan First District Engineering Office, with Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc. as contractor.
The project was intended to construct a riverbank protection structure at Bagong Silang, Purok 4 in Plaridel.
In the interim report, the commission also asked the Ombudsman to ‘evaluate’ the possible violations of former DPWH Bulacan engineers Henry Alcantara and Brice Hernandez, and Topnotch owner Eumir Villanueva of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Malversation and Falsification, Presidential Decree No. 1759 and the Government Procurement Reform Act.
Reyes said based on a report endorsed by the Commission on Audit, it was established that no structure was constructed at the location specified in the Approved Bid Plans. Instead, the structure was supposedly relocated.
The ICI observed that this deviation was not supported by sufficient documentary evidence to justify or authorize such relocation.
Reyes said the results of the COA technical inspection, together with the available records, clearly establish that the project was never constructed at the designated location in the Approved Bid Plans, thus, not implemented, despite the unwarranted release and full payment of the contract cost by the DPWH to Topnotch.
“It appears that several DPWH public officials were grossly negligent, if not remiss, in the performance of their respective duties to ensure that the project was properly implemented and that government funds were lawfully and prudently disbursed,” the ICI chief said.
Reyes further stated that the former public officials’ acts and omissions indicate a “failure to secure the required diligence and oversight expected of public officers entrusted with the administration of public funds, thereby resulting in evident injury to the government.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. Originally posted with the headline “ICI seeks probe vs. ex-DPWH officials over flood infra mess.”
