House to summon ‘favored’ contractor behind multi-billion projects

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines  – The House of Representatives will subpoena Consolacion T. Leoncio—the owner of the Bulacan-based construction firm, CT Leoncio Construction and Trading—which bagged 30 government projects worth billions of pesos in 2018 and has ties with some incumbent Cabinet members according to a House leader.

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“… (I)n furtherance of the investigation being conducted by your rules committee, I move that we issue a subpoena for Consolacio T. Leoncio, proprietor of CT Leoncio (Construction and Trading),” Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. motioned during the plenary session of the chamber on Tuesday. The motion was approved without objections.

The House plenary also approved Andaya’s motion to summon pertinent Department of Public Works and Highways regional directors, district engineering officers, and Commission on Audit officials in charge of auditing the said projects.

Andaya also said he obtained certifications and contracts from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proving that CT Leoncio was just a single proprietorship and not a corporation.

“In line with the investigation being conducted by the rules committee on the effects of a cash budgeting system, and in light of the revelation that on the implementation of the 2018 budget, a large-scale scam has been discovered in which a certain single proprietor CT Leoncio has garnered billions of pesos in contracts, we’d like to put on record that we have here a certification from the SEC that indeed, CT Leoncio Trading is not a corporation. They (SEC) also turned over a contract in which CT Leoncio states that it is a sole proprietorship owned by Consolacion T. Leoncio,” the House leader said.

The Camarines Sur 1st District congressman also cited unattributed information which allegedly states that contracts were simultaneously bagged by CT Leoncio “in the province of Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Samar, NCR, Camarines Sur, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Batangas, Bulacan, and Davao City.”

He also said he “received information about the family tree, connecting certain officials to these areas.” When asked to clarify, Andaya said certain “incumbent Cabinet members” were linked to some of the areas where the projects were conducted. He refused to name the Cabinet members.

All these contracts which “largely started in 2017,” were not only with the Public Works Department, but also “with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Transportation, Philippine Sports Authority, Philippine Fisheries Development Authority and Department of Labor and Employment,” Andaya said.

In a privilege speech on Monday, Andaya bared CT Leoncio was a single proprietorship which bagged numerous multi-billion government contracts even in far-flung provinces.

“Papaano nangyari iyon? Bilyon na kontrata single proprietorship, that is bad business practice. Mali iyan, hindi puwede iyan, bawal iyan pero nangyari na at ito,” he said.

“Single proprietorship na nasa Bulacan na-corner lahat ng kontrata sa kudulu-duluhan ng ibang rehiyon. May mirakulong nangyari diyan,” he added. /jpv