MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) blacklisted 700 construction firms in 2007 for various violations and will add 300 more companies, as of December 2008, to the list, Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said Tuesday.

However, Ebdane acknowledged that the three Filipino firms banned by the World Bank, along with four Chinese companies, from bidding on public construction projects for alleged corruption are not in the DPWH blacklist.

Ebdane, appearing at the Senate hearing into the World Bank ban on three Filipino firms, for alleged corruption, said most of the 700 blacklisted firms “have requested for consideration and, I think, half of that are still qualified.”

“Now, we are preparing another list for various violations and we are now counting more than 300 [firms]. It’s a continuing process,” he said.

Last week, the World Bank said it had disqualified Filipino firms Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp. and CM Pancho Construction Inc. (both for four years), and E.C. de Luna Construction Corp. (barred permanently), and Chinese companies China Road and Bridge Corp. (eight years), China State Construction Corp. and China Wu Yi Co. Ltd. (both for six years) and China Geo-Engineering Corp. (five years).

The financial institution said it had “uncovered evidence of a major cartel involving local and international firms bidding on contracts under Phase 1 of the Philippines’ National Roads Improvement and Management Program, known as NRIMP 1.”