DPWH engineer arrested for alleged attempt to bribe Batangas solon
A Department of Public Works and Highways engineer has been arrested over an alleged attempt to bribe a Batangas congressman.
Sen. Ping Lacson, in an X post on Aug. 24, said a Batangas district engineer allegedly tried to offer Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste P360 million in kickbacks from infrastructure projects in their district.
Batangas police director Col. Geovanny Emerick Sibalo later said that the attempted bribe amounted to P3.12 million.
In another post on Aug. 25, Lacson identified the engineer as Abelardo Calalo. He also theorized that with the "foiled bribe try" on Leviste, DPWH officials, "at least at the district level, are now relegated to 'legmen' and worse, 'bagmen' of powerful contractors."
"Authorities should dig deep into this instant case and find out under whose direction Calalo was offering the bribe," the senator added.
Leviste has also confirmed that he will file a case against Calalo on Aug. 26.
"We should not tolerate any corruption in DPWH. We should demand projects at better quality and lower cost, and obligate contractors to correct any deficiencies immediately without additional cost to the government. Beyond this case, we will push for broader reforms to address systemic problems of DPWH," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, The Philippine STAR reported that DPWH Sec. Manuel Bonoan "reassigned" Isabelo Baleros from Muntinlupa and Las Piñas to the Metro Manila third district engineering office.
Ruel Umali will take over Baleros's place in the Muntinlupa and Las Piñas offices.
“Under and by virtue of this order, engineer Umali is directed to perform the duties and assume the responsibilities appurtenant to the position of District Engineer,” the memorandum order signed by Bonoan read.
The reassignment happened two weeks after Las Piñas Rep. Mark Anthony Santos called on Bonoan to remove Baleros over alleged involvement in questionable transactions, including a controversial transfer of flood control funds.
Bonoan has since assured the public that they'd hold unscrupulous DPWH officials accountable for substandard or “ghost” flood control projects.
The issue in the government's flood control projects began in July as the rains triggered massive flooding in the metro.
Economist JC Punongbayan, in a Facebook post, questioned why flooding persists despite having billions of pesos in flood control allocations over the years.
Using data from the Department of Budget and Management, he shared a graph showing the steadily increasing flood control allocations: P141.6 billion in 2021, P209.9 billion in 2022, P282.5 billion in 2023, and P351.3 billion in 2024. This year’s allocation stands at P349.4 billion and, despite being less than the previous year’s allocation, Punongbayan noted it’s still roughly a third of the national infrastructure budget.
“Bakit grabe pa rin ang baha?” he asked. “Bakit parang hindi ramdam ang pagbuhos ng budget sa flood control systems?”
At the time, Lacson told dzBB that since 2011, about P1 trillion allocated for flood control projects may have been lost to corruption.
Ultimately, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., in his fourth State of the Nation Address, called out government officials involved in the would-be corruption in flood control projects.
Marcos ordered the DPWH to "immediately submit" to him the list of flood control projects from every region that were started and completed in the last three years. He said a project monitoring committee will evaluate this list to determine the failures, as well as the unfinished and ghost projects.
Soon after, he launched the "Sumbong sa Pangulo" website, where the public can track and report flood control projects. He also published a list of 15 contractors that exclusively bagged 20% of all flood control projects worth P100 billion in the last three years.