The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is withholding ?14 million in retention funds from contractor Sunwest over an allegedly substandard ?289 million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.
The project led to a malversation case against former Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co and nine others.
DPWH Finance Division chief Cecilia Vicquerra, a witness presented by the counsel of project engineer Felisardo Casuno, appeared before the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division on Thursday.
Vicquerra signed a certification dated Sept. 17, 2026 stating that the DPWH has yet to release the retention amount to Sunwest, which was co-founded by Co.
The P14 million is the total amount of retention funds withheld from the first, second and third progress billings.
Both prosecution and defense stipulated or agreed on the authenticity of the three progress billings, as well as the total amount of retention funds.
Defect ‘impossible’ to fix
A 10-percent deduction is withheld from every progress billing payment of an infrastructure project to guarantee that its contractor fixes any defect, according to the DPWH.
However, DPWH chief Vince Dizon had told the anti-graft court on Wednesday that the project is ‘really impossible’ to repair.
Dizon testified before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on the graft case stemming from the same Oriental Mindoro project.
The secretary inspected the Naujan town’s road dike project in September last year.
He discovered that the dike only has three-meter steel sheet piles, which is far from the 12-meter requirement.
‘Rectification would mean destroying the project and replacing every sheet pile,’ Dizon told the court.
In an ambush interview after the trial, Dizon wondered: ‘For them to change the three-meter sheet pile, they would have to destroy the entire structure they made, right?’