Ombudsman probes DPWH bridge program

The President’s Bridge Program (PBP) of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which has been continued by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under President Benigno Aquino III, has been under investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged overpricing.

Assistant Ombudsman Joselito Fangon revealed this in a reply to the Citizens Infrastructure Integrity Watchdog (InfraWatch) when the latter asked for an investigation of the PBP.

Fangon said the Ombudsman’s field investigation office has been investigating the project, also known as the Mega Bridges for Urban and Rural Development Project.

“Accordingly, we shall consider your report as inputs to the investigation, and we shall proceed accordingly,” Fangon told Ricardo Ramos, InfraWatch executive director, in an October12 letter.

The National Economic and Development Authority board, in a June 2008 statement, said the PBP was funded by the French government (88 percent or around P9.45 billion) and the Philippine government (12 percent or some P1.28 billion).

The program aimed to build 10 girder-type flyovers and 72 national bridges along the country’s congested highways and road networks until 2012.

In a letter to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales in September, Ramos said the project, which uses French modular steel technology, “costs five times more than those built in the Philippines using conventional construction.”

Rafael Yabut, DPWH undersecretary for foreign-assisted projects, excused himself from a telephone interview because he was in an executive committee meeting on Monday. He promised to check on the issue.

Ramos cited the Iloilo flyover that cost P386 million or P1.3 million per linear meter when completed in April 2010. This, he said, was five times the cost of the Mambaling flyover in Cebu which was completed in April 2011.

The French company, Matiere SAS, is the supplier of the modular steel bridges, he said.

He said it was unfortunate that Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson has “continued the ‘supply-driven’ Mega Bridges Project that is grossly disadvantageous to the Philippine government,” citing the recently completed P365-million flyover in Bacolod City.

Ramos said Singson “refused to give us the information on the program of work, particularly on the detailed costings of the project.” What Singson gave, he said, were background information published in newspapers.

In the same letter, Ramos informed Morales about an alleged road repair anomaly in La Paz, Tarlac, where the DPWH, through a public contractor, drilled portions of a good road to fill these with asphalt.