House Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. on Thursday disclosed that embattled Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno has allocated a total of P332 billion for flood control projects from 2017 to 2019 and even placed funds in relatively flood-free areas.
At a hearing conducted by the House committee on rules in Naga City, Andaya accused Diokno of acting alone and allocating huge flood control funds in Casiguran, Sorsogon, where his in-laws are politicians.
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Casiguran Mayor Edward Hamor, the biggest shareholder of Aremar Construction, is the husband of Sorsogon Vice Gov. Ester Hamor, the mother of Diokno’s son-in-law, Romeo Sicat Jr. who is married to the Budget secretary’s daughter, Charlotte Justine.
In a statement, Hamor has refuted allegations that a construction firm owned by his daughter cornered at least P551 million in government contracts in 2018 from the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Hamor also rejected Andaya’s claim that Aremar Construction was favored due to his ties to Diokno.
“Aremar was established in 2014 when I was out of government and I was in the private sector. I divested before I assumed as mayor in 2016 in favor of my sister, Grace Hamor-Yu, and my daughter, Maria Minez Hamor,” the mayor said in a statement.
“Maria is my daughter outside of wedlock before I married Esther Hamor, who is the actual in-law of Diokno. Maria Hamor now owns majority of Aremar,” he added.
Hamor said Aremar and CT Leoncio Construction and Trading, a Triple A company, are not partners but are only involved in a joint venture for four infrastructure projects in Sorsogon.
“Joint ventures are legal and allowed by the DPWH if it has a Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board approval and special license for joint venture purposes. All these joint ventures have PCAB approval and a numbered special license. Joint ventures are valid and legal,” he said.
The joint venture projects being questioned by Andaya cover the off-carriageway improvement of the Ariman-Casiguran Road (P47 million), Barcelona-Casiguran Diversion Road (P96 million), a tourism road in Bulusan National Park (P115 million) and the section of Daang Maharlika Road in Sorsogon (P289 million).
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“The procurement law requires that all projects be open to all contractors. And it’s not the Department of Budget and Management that bids out and releases—it is the DPWH,” Hamor added.
In the hearing, Andaya lamented that Matnog, Sorsogon whose at least 19 villages are now submerged in flood water due to the rains triggered by Tropical Depression “Usman” did not receive a single centavo allocation under this year’s proposed P3.757-trillion national budget that has yet to be approved by Congress.
“…Despite its vulnerability to flood, Matnog did not get a single centavo in the billions of pesos allocated by the DBM for flood control projects in Sorsogon under the 2019 National Expenditure Program,” Andaya said.
“It’s clear that the DBM has a problem in allocating the budget. For 2019, zero budget for flood control in Matnog. But a whopping P385 million allocated for Casiguran, which has no threat of flooding now or in the next 25 years,” Andaya said, citing a study.
But contrary to claims made by the panel, Albay is the biggest beneficiary of flood mitigation projects in Region 5.
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DPWH documents showed that Albay had the highest allocation at P11.2 billion, Sorsogon came in second at P10.5 billion, closely followed by Camarines Sur at P10.2 billion, Masbate at P4.5 billion, Camarines Norte at P3.3 billion, and Catanduanes at P2.5 billion.
Documents also showed that other areas got bigger infrastructure funding than Casiguran, indicating that the town was not given any special treatment.
Andaya, who has initiated the probe against Diokno, questioned the bidding documents C. T. Leoncio, saying the company used a single backhoe since May 2018.
In addition, Andaya said the company employed only three engineers despite the many projects it cornered in the region.
“The biddings were rigged from the start. It is the practice of Triple A contractors to secure contracts and later allow other contractors to do the work for them,” Andaya said.
Andaya said in this case, it was ironic that the smaller company, C.T. Lenocio, was the dummy for a bigger contractor, Aremar Construction, which was the real project implementor.
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