Complaints involving eight alleged “ghost” farm-to-market road (FMR) projects in Davao Occidental worth around P94 million were filed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) before the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday, May 21, against Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials and private contractors.

DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. led the filing of the complaints, which allege corrupt practices, malversation, falsification of public documents, grave misconduct, and serious dishonesty against the respondents.

Laurel said the projects, mostly funded in 2021, were among those personally inspected by him in Davao Occidental late last year and which the DA alleged were nonexistent despite being documented as completed.

“Nandito ako ngayon para mag-file ng cases sa mga taga-DPWH tsaka contractors ng farm-to-market roads na nakita namin wala. Ghost FMRs (I am here now to file cases against DPWH personnel and contractors involving farm-to-market roads that we found nonexistent. Ghost FMRs),” Laurel told reporters in an ambush interview.

“A total of 8 cases ang finile today, maybe 7 more coming at most. Halos ito ay sa Davao Occidental (A total of eight cases were filed today, and maybe seven more are coming. Almost all of these are in Davao Occidental),” he added.

One of the complaints named DPWH Davao Occidental District Engineer Rodrigo C. Larete; Project Engineer and OIC-Chief of Construction Section Joel M. Lumogdang; OIC-Assistant District Engineer Michael P. Awa; Quality Assurance Officer Jafel C. Faunillan; Acting Finance Chief Czar Ryan S. Ubungen; and private contractor Leonila P. Urgel of RDF Construction and Supply.

The complaint involved an alleged “ghost” FMR project in Barangay Caburan, Jose Abad Santos, which the DA alleged was paid in full at P11.94 million despite not being implemented.

According to the complaint, the respondents allegedly falsified Statements of Work Accomplished (SWA), Certificates of Payment, and Disbursement Vouchers to make the project appear completed, thereby allegedly facilitating the release of public funds.

Another complaint was filed against the same DPWH officials and Masulot Construction, represented by Maligamama L. Medtamak, over the Barangay Caburan Small FMR project in Jose Abad Santos.

The project, with a contract amount of P11.92 million under the DA FMR Development Program, was allegedly falsely certified as completed despite field validation conducted by the DA-Internal Audit Service (IAS) allegedly showing that the project had not been implemented.

Additional complaints also involved DPWH officials Larete, Lumogdang, Villaver, Awa, Faunillan, and Ubungen, along with contractors Florentino D. Pesigan Jr. of YPR General Contractor, Abdulaziz U. Kadil of Al Handasa Construction, Marivic B. Juanites of Janmarie Construction, Diana S. Borbon of DISEM Construction and Supply, Allen P. Borbon of Adan Builders Co., and Marvin Lata Cumbe and Honorio Cumbe of HVC Sagittarius Commercial and Construction.

The complaints covered FMR projects in Barangays Culaman, Datu Danwata, Demoloc, Tical, and Manuel Peralta, with contract values ranging from P10.02 million to P14.92 million.

In each case, the DA alleged that the respondents conspired to submit falsified SWAs, Certificates of Payment, Project Status Reports, and Disbursement Vouchers to make the projects appear completed, thereby securing payments for allegedly non-implemented FMR projects.

The complaints cited alleged violations involving the complex crime of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents under Articles 217, 171, and 172 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Article 48; Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; and administrative offenses such as grave misconduct and serious dishonesty.

According to Laurel, the respondents include district engineers, project engineers, finance personnel, quality assurance officers, and eight contractors.

“Anim ang finile-an. I’m not sure if they’re current or former DPWH, with eight contractors. Mga district engineers, project engineers, finance, quality assurance (Six officials were charged. I’m not sure if they are current or former DPWH personnel, together with eight contractors. They include district engineers, project engineers, finance, and quality assurance personnel),” he said.

Laurel said most of the alleged “ghost” farm-to-market road projects were funded in 2021, with each project amounting to around P11 million.

“About P94 million kasi each FMR maliit lang naman, pero most of these are 2021 FMR projects. Ang amount mga 11 million per project at that time noong 2021 (It totals about P94 million because each FMR project is relatively small, but most of these were 2021 FMR projects. Each project was worth around P11 million at that time in 2021),” he said.

According to Laurel, he personally visited the project sites and allegedly found no concrete roads constructed.

“Pinuntahan ko mismo ’yan mga late last year. Wala talaga. Wala kang makita. Meron siyang daanan, dirt road na dinadaanan lang ng tao, tricycle, pero walang semento, walang bakal (I personally visited those sites late last year. There was really nothing there. You could not see anything. There was a pathway or dirt road being used by people and tricycles, but there was no cement and no steel),” he said.

The DA chief said the filing of cases took several months due to evidence gathering and case buildup.

“Case build up takes time. Hindi pwedeng basta-basta magfile ka lang. Gusto natin pulido ang kaso para solid. Alam niyo naman sa mga kaso, we can get good lawyers. So we really have to prepare the case. Ngayon nandito tayo after mga pitong buwan. I can say solid lahat ng ebidensiya at kaso (Case buildup takes time. You cannot just file cases recklessly. We want the cases to be airtight and solid. As you know, respondents can get good lawyers. So we really had to prepare the case. Now we are here after around seven months. I can say all the evidence and cases are solid),” he said.

Laurel said the DA is also conducting case buildup involving other allegedly questionable FMR projects in other areas, including another set of projects in Davao Occidental and a separate site in Albay.

“Itong 8 ngayon sa Davao Occidental, yung 7 susunod Davao Occidental parin. Pero mayroon narin kaming kine-case build up sa Guinobatan, Albay. Pinuntahan ko rin yon few months ago. Hindi din namin nakita ’yung project (These eight cases are in Davao Occidental, and the next seven will also be in Davao Occidental. But we are also conducting case buildup in Guinobatan, Albay. I also visited that site a few months ago. We also did not see the project there),” he said.

Asked whether politicians may be involved, Laurel said the investigation is still focused on documentary evidence.

“Hindi ko pa alam. I cannot say that kasi we’re just following the evidence. Kung mayroon sa kanilang magsalita, gusto maging witness, may beneficial benefactor ’yan. Baka lumabas (I still do not know. I cannot say that because we are just following the evidence. If any of them decide to talk and become a witness, there may be a beneficial benefactor involved. That may come out),” he said.

The DA chief said they are currently reviewing around 4,500 FMR project sites nationwide.

“Sa ngayon, ang kailangan namin i-review is about 4,500 sites. Nasa 1,241 palang kami kasi nga malalayo, yung iba [kailangan ng] manpower, at magastos. Tuloy-tuloy naman tayo sa 1,241 na nakita na natin, which is about 25 percent na, 16 ang nakita (Right now, we need to review around 4,500 sites. We have only inspected 1,241 so far because many are in remote areas, require manpower, and are costly to inspect. We continue to inspect the 1,241 sites we have already visited, which is about 25 percent already, and 16 projects have been identified),” he said.

Likewise, Laurel said the alleged non-implementation of the projects negatively affected farmers in the area who had long awaited the roads.

“Nagpunta ako doon sa Davao Occidental, nakausap ko ang mga farmers. Marami sa kanila [sabi], ’Buti na lang pumunta kayo, nakita niyo ito kasi matagal na namin hinintay ‘to.’ Matagal na nila hinintay ’yung farm-to-market, matagal na naipangako sa kanila, matagal na alam nilang napondohan na, pero never dumating (I went to Davao Occidental and spoke with farmers there. Many of them said, ‘Good thing you came and saw this because we have waited for this for a long time.’ They had long waited for the farm-to-market roads, they had long been promised these projects, and they knew these had long been funded, but they never materialized),” he said.

Laurel said the roads could have significantly reduced travel time and improved farmers’ logistics and transport of products.

“Sa halip na isang oras, 15 minutes na lang (Instead of one hour, travel time could have been reduced to just 15 minutes),” he added.

As of posting time, no statement has yet been issued by the respondents named in the complaints. The Manila Bulletin welcomes and is prepared to publish their side or clarification regarding the allegations.