Singson: No, no, there is no overpricing

By: Joey A. Gabieta - 11 years ago

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson on Tuesday insisted that there was no overpricing or kickbacks in the construction of bunkhouses in Eastern Visayas and that politicians were not involved in the project.

“No, no, they (politicians) are not involved. There’s no such thing (as kickbacks),” Singson said as he boarded his vehicle to go to the airport for his return flight after attending the shelter cluster of Task Force Yolanda.

Repeating a statement to Malacañang reporters on Monday, Singson said it was unfair to even impute that the project was tainted by corruption.

He said the 70 private contractors were all from outside Eastern Visayas. They joined the project as “help to the [Supertyphoon] ‘Yolanda’ victims.”

“We removed the overhead cost, the profit margin. So, where is the overpricing that they are talking about? How can they say that contractors benefited from this?” he said.

During the meeting at the Leyte Sports Development Center in Tacloban City, Joselito Balais, municipal assessor of Guiuan town in Eastern Samar, revealed that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) wanted to construct 36 bunkhouses in the area.

But Balais said that Guiuan Mayor Christopher Sheen Gonzales only wanted 13. Eventually 17 bunkhouses were constructed in the town. The houses of more than 13,500 families in the town were either destroyed or damaged, but many of them had been repaired, he said.

Bert Labican, the assistant municipal engineer of Guiuan, said that at Barangay (village) Lopoc, a bunkhouse was constructed but only one family was identified as a possible occupant because most residents had repaired their homes.

“We are not against these bunkhouses. The process should have been followed first before the DPWH built them,” Balais said.

Singson, however, explained that the DPWH constructed the number of bunkhouses that the local government units had requested, adding that the LGUs also identified the sites.

Balais, however, insisted that the Guiuan officials were not informed first by the DPWH as to the location of the bunkhouses.

The DPWH is targeting the construction of 222 bunkhouses in the Eastern Visayas, of which 126 have been completed.

Singson said that the department would modify the design for the uncompleted bunkhouses, which would have only 12 units, instead of the 24.

“This is in response to the clamor of some international organizations that the bunkhouses were small in size to accommodate families with several children,” he said. The bunkhouses are targeted to be completed before the end of the month.