The national government could have "rung the bell" earlier on alleged anomalous flood control projects based on the Commission on Audit's (COA) reports way back in 2016.

This was the main takeaway from House Deputy Majority Leader and Manila 1st district Rep. Ernix Dionisio Jr.'s interpellation of COA Director III Tracy Ann Sunico on Tuesday, Sept. 2 during the House Infrastructure Committee (infra comm) hearing.

The COA official served as one of the resource persons in the probe, which ran parallel to the President Marcos-led audit of anomalous and "ghost" flood mitigation projects.

It was learned during the proceedings that the agency had already identified questionable flood control projects as early as 2016, but somehow many of its findings were left unaddressed.

“Mr. Chair, mukhang mas malalim pa ‘yun nahukay natin on day one pa lang [ng hearing]. COA seems to be doing their job, pero mukhang napupunta lang sa wala yung mga findings nila until President Bongbong Marcos has rung the bell and raised the alarm sa ating pamahalaan na maraming anomalous na nangyayari,” Dionisio said.

(Mr. Chair, it seems we’ve uncovered something much deeper on day one of the hearing allone. COA seems to be doing their job, but it looks like their findings have gone nowhere until President Bongbong Marcos rang the bell and raised the alarm to our government that many anomalies are happening.)

Marcos took over the reins from former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was in Malacañang from 2016 to 2022.

Sunico confirmed to the infra comm that COA had long observed "red flags" in flood control projects and consolidated their findings across the country. She said these projects amounted to P120 billion.

“Marami po kaming mga observation, hindi ko po siya maiisa-isa o mahimay pagdating sa flood control sir kasi po naka-consolidate po siya. Pero na-flag na po nung as early as 2015-16,” she said.

(We’ve had many observations, sir, but I can’t go through them one by one or break them down when it comes to flood control because they’re consolidated. But some were flagged as early as 2015–2016.)

“Yung nakita ko po kasi nabalikan ko sir is 2016. Pero sa tingin ko sir, mas earlier pa po siguro kasi ang na-review po pa lang po is 2016. So sir, na-flag na po nila na-questionable … sa kadahilan ng maraming hindi lahat nade-declare ng mga bidders doon sa kanilang financial and technical documents yung mga list of ongoing projects po nila. Yung mga yun po na observation,” she explained.

(What I was able to review, sir, was from 2016. But I think it may go even earlier, because the only year I’ve reviewed so far is 2016. So, sir, they already flagged certain items as questionable… because many bidders did not fully declare in their financial and technical documents the list of their ongoing projects. Those were part of the observations.)

“Meron din po observation pagdating doon sa mga same key personnel na ‘yun din po ang na-assign sa mga simultaneous or sabay-sabay na project ng mga contractor. Ganon din po ‘yung kanilang mga equipment,” Sunico further told Dionisio

(There were also observations regarding the same key personnel being assigned to multiple simultaneous projects by contractors. The same goes for their equipment.)

The COA auditor detailed how discrepancies between official reports and on-the-ground inspections were common. She said even technical specialists had found inflated costs when compared to actual evaluations.

“And doon sa PCMA po nila, ‘yung ating Project and Contract Management Application ng DPWH. Naka-report na po doon na 100% completed pero as per validation or ocular inspection po ng mga auditors natin, marami pa po hindi natatapos or may mga kulang pa po doon sa mga dineclare nilang 100%,” said Sunico.

For Dionisio, the revelations underscored just how persistent the problems were. 

“So my question is to our representative from COA, ano po nangyari sa mga nakita niyo at mga na-flag down niyo na mga anomalous transactions, mga bagay na kahinahinala na, since 2016?”

(So my question to our COA representative is: what happened to the anomalies you found and flagged? The suspicious transactions, what became of them since 2016?)

Sunico answered: "Since 2016, sir, if I may, sir, meron po kaming mga listahan ng notices of charges, suspensions and disallowances po. Una po siya since 2015 or 2016, sir, ng P120 billion."

(Since 2016, sir, if I may, we have lists of notices of charges, suspensions, and disallowances. It started around 2015 or 2016, sir, amounting to ₱120 billion.)

Tuesday's infra comm hearing was presided by Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon.