DPWH reveals officials involved in bid meddling

President Benigno S. Aquino III inspects the facilities of the temporary shelter at the Cogon Relocation Site in Barangay Cogon, Guiuan during a visit to the province of Eastern Samar on Friday (November 07). With the President are DSWD Sec. Dinky Soliman and DPWH Sec. Rogelio Singson. More than 200 Yolanda survivors will benefit from some 133 housing units. It was in Guiuan where super Typhoon Yolanda, the strongest typhoon ever recorded, made its first landfall on November 08, 2013. (Photo by Gil Nartea / Malacañang Photo bureau)

MANILA – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) disclosed over the weekend that several officials defied the warning of Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson against meddlers in the bidding for roads and infrastructure projects.

Politicians which include a Bicol congressman, some members of a prominent political clan in Western Mindanao and a governor from the Cordillera Administrative Region were allegedly ignoring the “daang matuwid (righteous path)” crusade of the Aquino government.

The DPWH also revealed that some of these officials even “tried to influence some members of DPWH bids and awards committees in bagging projects, as well as used contractors as their fronts in the agency’s procurement process.

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In an interview, a DPWH official who asked not to be named in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, said that most of the local officials were meddling in the bidding process of government projects.

“Worse, some local officials whose front construction firms failed to win public works projects gave winning bidders a hard time by refusing to issue the required permits [they need], like those for operating quarries, forcing the contractors to give up the projects altogether,” the official said.

Also in the same report, Singson said that the department already issued a warning against those erring politicians.

“We have already warned them.”

He then urged the bidders and other organizations involved to file a case against the violators.

“If bidders have any complaints, they should file them,” Singson told the Inquirer in a text message, so that there would be a “basis to go after people who abet corrupt practices.”

Singson also shared a mechanism to make the filing of complaints easy for the complainants.

“Our 165-02 hotline is now connected with the DPWH’s 16 regional offices nationwide. Complaints are directly routed to these regional offices for prompt action,” Singson said.

He also shared that the department is more than open for suggestions from the public as he “wants to hear the public’s points of view on DPWH programs, projects and policies.

We are prepared to listen to and learn from them.”