Andaya: Aremar got P81M from dummies that bagged gov’t contracts

House Majority Floor Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. INQUIRER.net file photo / Noy Morcoso

Update

MANILA, Philippines — The House rules panel has gathered P81.1-million worth of deposit slips from winning contractors of government infrastructure projects, which allegedly found their way to the bank account of Aremar Construction Corp., a company owned by the Hamors in Sorsogon.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said this amount “breaches the P50-million plunder point.”

(From the slide presentation of House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr.)

The deposit slips, he said, were voluntarily given by several Bicol region-based contractors who have attested that some contractors, like the CT Leoncio, were just alleged dummies for Aremar Construction Corp. The said contractors have allegedly cornered billions in pesos of infrastructure projects, according to the lawmaker.

READ: House probe tackles ‘flood-control scam’ in Bicol |

Andaya: P10-B Sorsogon projects all went to Diokno in-laws’ firm, dummies

The Camarines Sur congressman presented the bank transactions at the resumption of the committee probe into the so-called “flood control scam” and other budget anomalies under the watch of Budget Sec. Benjamin Diokno.

READ: Evidence vs Aremar ‘has reached plunder point’ – Andaya

Aremar is owned by Maria Minez Hamor, daughter of Casiguran Mayor Jose Edwin Hamor. Edwin is the second husband of Sorsogon Vice Gov. Ester Hamor, who is Romeo Sicat Jr.’s mother. Sicat, meanwhile, is married to Charlotte Justin, Diokno’s daughter.

In a previous hearing in Naga City, Andaya has asked the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to gather all the bank transactions of CT Leoncio and Aremar.

But on Tuesday’s hearing, AMLC Officer-in-charge Mel Georgie Racela said they couldn’t comply with the request since bank transactions are kept and maintained by banks.

Casiguran Mayor Jose Edwin, meanwhile, maintained that he is not Diokno’s in-law. He stressed that Sicat was the son of his wife with her first husband and that Sicat did not live with them.

Jose Edwin also denied being close to Diokno, whom he said he only met once at a wedding.

“Hindi po kami nagmi-meet, sa kasal lang… Di po ako balae,” he said

(“We rarely see each other, only at a wedding… I’m not his in-law.)

Andaya also asked Edwin to confirm the joint venture agreement between Aremar and CT Leoncio in Sorsogon for four infrastructure projects in 2018.

Edwin only said he is no longer affiliated with Aremar since he became mayor in 2016.

Andaya said he was supposed to ask the Casiguran Mayor to confirm the account number in which the P81 million were deposited but the lawmaker said he won’t proceed since Edwin would probably respond the same.

Diokno and Mayor Hamor have been denying the accusations against them. The budget chief said the allegations were a mere diversion from the pork barrel issue, while Hamor slammed it as a “scare tactic.”

Andaya started his exposès after Senator Panfilo Lacson alleged that Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got P2.4 billion in “pork barrel” funds while the Camarines Sur congressman got P1.9 billion. Both denied this. /jpv

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