DPWH stops pork projects, payments

A PROTESTER wearing a pig mask at the Million People March against the plunder of public funds through pork barrel in Makati City in October RICHARD REYES

VIRAC, Catanduanes—Contractors of infrastructure projects in Catanduanes province funded under the now illegal Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), better known as pork barrel, are in a dark mood this holiday season after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) suspended the projects and payments for completed work.

As a result of the memorandum issued on Dec. 9 by Public Works Undersecretary for Regional Operations Romeo Momo, nearly P40 million in funding has been withheld by the DPWH Catanduanes Engineering District.

According to DPWH insiders, several checks ready for signing by top DPWH officials have been returned to the department’s accounting section, frustrating claimant contractors who have been expecting payment for their PDAF-funded projects.

Many of the projects are either nearing completion or already completed, according to sources who also handed to the Inquirer a copy of Momo’s memorandum.

Among the suspended payments covered P21 million for eight projects this year, P16.2 million for 23 projects in 2012 and P2.2 million for 12 projects in 2011, said the sources  from both the DPWH and contractors privy to the transactions but who asked not to be identified.

The projects include 15 involving road concreting worth P23.8 million, 13 water systems worth P1.6 million, nine multipurpose buildings worth

P5.4 million, two drainage systems worth P800,000 and a flood control project worth

P9.7 million.

Momo, in his memorandum, directed all regional directors to “suspend all ongoing projects funded by the PDAF and not to cause payment of any accomplishment” pursuant to the recent Supreme Court decision declaring the PDAF as unconstitutional.

He cited the high court ruling that said  the decision was immediately executory and covered all PDAF-related projects.

Momo, in the same memorandum, said Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson verbally instructed him to disseminate the information to all DPWH offices.

Lawyer Brando Ray Raya, chief legal counsel of the DPWH in Central Visayas, had issued a separate memorandum to Ador Canlas, DPWH regional director in Central Visayas, on the same subject.

Raya’s memorandum came as a reply to a query on whether the DPWH can still release funds for projects that had been contracted out before the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on the PDAF on Sept. 10.

In its decision, the Supreme Court said funds allotted in 2013 for PDAF projects must be returned to the National Treasury if no notice of cash allotment had been issued for the projects.

In his memorandum, Raya recommended that the high court decision be respected. “Otherwise, the public official violating the same may be held criminally and administratively liable,” said Raya’s memorandum.

Until Thursday, it was not known if the Catanduanes Contractors Association, or any of its members, would file a case in court to demand payment.

One contractor, who chose to hide his identity for fear of retaliation, said the DPWH order violated due process.