THE Commission on Audit (COA) said on Friday it has filed four additional fraud audit reports with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), uncovering mismatched construction sites, substandard structures, and ghost projects worth over P359 million in Bulacan province.
The latest reports, filed on Friday, still focused on flood control projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office (DEO).
According to the commission, state auditors discovered a pattern across the four projects: DPWH representatives repeatedly ‘redirected’ them to different locations from the approved project sites, offering ‘no explanations’ for the changes.
In one case involving M3 Konstract Corp.’s P96.4-million riverbank protection project in Barangay San Roque, Baliuag, auditors found existing structures at both the approved and redirected locations, but neither matched the contracted project.
The structure at the redirected site already showed defects and cracks, and belonged to an entirely different project.
‘Aside from these findings, DPWH-Bulacan 1st DEO failed to submit a significant number of critical supporting documents to COA. In particular, DPWH-Bulacan 1st DEO submitted conflicting documents regarding the contract cost, variation order amount and name of the actual contractor designated to carry out the variation order,’ the report read.
Likewise, state auditors found that the P92.6-million flood control site in Barangay Manatal, Pandi had no structure at the approved location. The project proponent was SYMS Construction and Trading.
The project was redirected to a different location, but had ‘unfinished structure with exposed steel bars,’ and that there were no workers or equipment at the location during inspection.
According to the auditors, the same was true for another SYMS projects in Balagtas worth P74.1 million: There were no structures on the original site and those that were built on the redirected site ‘utterly failed to meet the project specifications.’
‘COA also discovered that based on DPWH’s own database, the project was tagged as ongoing, yet full payment was already made to the contractor,’ state auditors noted. ‘These findings, taken together, point to the fact that this is a ghost project.’
The fourth project, a P96.4-million riverbank protection structure contracted to Amethyst Horizon Builders, followed a similar pattern: mismatched locations, structures that didn’t conform to approved plans, and missing documentation.
The fraud reports name numerous DPWH-Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office personnel and private contractors as liable parties.
Appearing across multiple reports are former officials, namely: District Engineer Henry C. Alcantara, Assistant District Engineer Brice Ericson D. Hernandez, Planning and Design Chief Ernesto G. Galang, and Engineer John Michael E. Ramos.
For the M3 Konstract Corporation project, those found liable include Alcantara, Hernandez, Engineer Irene DC. Ontingco, Engineer Jaypee D. Mendoza, Galang, Engineer Jefferson S. Buendia, Engineer Prince Earl P. Deocampo, Ramos, and Louis Raphael DG. Tiqui of M3 Konstract Corp., along with the company’s officers and board members.
The auditors listed the following as liable for the two SYMS projects: Alcantara, Hernandez, Galang, Ramos, Ontingco, Buendia, Project Engineer Lemuel Ephraim SD. Roque, Engineer Jolo Mari V. Tayao, Engineer Michelle C. Cruz, and Sally N. Santos of SYMS Construction Trading.
Lastly, for the Amethyst project, the COA listed the following as liable: , Hernandez, Galang, Ontingco, Ramos, Mendoza, Cruz, Engineer Jasmine Jean I. Gonzaga, and Rochelle R. Campos of Amethyst Horizon Builders and Gen. Contractor and Development Corp., along with the company’s officers and board members.
The individuals face potential charges for graft and corruption under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, malversation, falsification of documents under the Revised Penal Code, and violations of COA regulations and the Government Procurement Reform Act.
COA emphasized that the list of liable persons ‘is not final and may expand as the audit progresses, or new information becomes available.’
Since COA Chairperson Cordoba’s directive on August 12, ordering an immediate audit of all DPWH flood control projects in Bulacan covering the period from July 1, 2022, to May 30, 2025, the COA has transmitted 21 reports to the ICI and the Ombudsman.
‘Today’s filing sends an unequivocal message: COA remains relentless in its mandate to safeguard the people’s money and uphold public trust,’ he said.
On Thursday, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said the agency has uncovered 421 ghost flood control projects out of the 8,000 initially validated.
To recall, the government started the crackdown on alleged ghost projects after President Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) in July.
Since then, investigations into the flood control corruption scandal have implicated numerous lawmakers, contractors, public works officials, and auditors.
Some have been charged with graft and malversation cases.