Some DPWH officials bagmen, legmen of contractors - Lacson

Metro Manila, Philippines - Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson had brazen remarks against some officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and called them legmen and bagmen for powerful contractors in light of a district engineer’s attempt to bribe a lawmaker.

In a phone interview with reporters on Monday, Aug. 25, Lacson questioned the move of district engineer Abelardo Calalo, officer-in-charge of Batangas’ First District Engineering Office, to bribe their representative, Leandro Leviste.

He said Calalo allegedly offered Leviste up to P360 million in kickbacks from infrastructure projects, leading to his arrest in an entrapment.

“This reinforces my fury dun sa aking privilege speech na parang yung mga DPWH officials, at least at the district level, relegated na sila sa parang legmen or bagmen ng mga powerful contractors,” Lacson said.

[Translation: This reinforces my fury from my privilege speech - that some DPWH officials, at least at the district level, have been reduced to legmen or bagmen for powerful contractors.]

“There must be a powerful contractor behind this and we have to find out,” he added.

Leviste’s office said the lawmaker will be filing a case against Calalo.

Lacson said a total of P3.6 billion was allocated for infrastructure projects in Batangas' first district this year, suggesting Calalo offered 10 percent for kickbacks.

He also drew parallels to Bulacan, which he described as the “most notorious” in anomalous flood control projects. The senator said around 30 ghost or non-existent projects were discovered there, allegedly facilitated by a “well-organized syndicate” within the province’s First District Engineering Office.

In a privilege speech last week, Lacson exposed a scheme in which kickbacks are divided among district engineers, members of the bids and awards committee, audit personnel, and politicians — leaving only about 40% of the funds for actual project implementation.

He said firing officials won't be enough to address what he calls a “systemic” problem.

“Kailangan surgical na yung solution [What’s needed is a surgical approach],” Lacson said.

“Hindi pwede yung tapal-tapal, hindi pwede band-aid [You can’t just patch things up. Band-aid solutions won’t work],” he added.

He also pushed back against Public Works Secretary Manny Bonoan’s earlier statement calling the Bulacan case an “isolated case” and disputed some of his findings.

“I don't know if he was just ignorant or he deliberately was misleading the public,” Lacson said.