Lacson bares alleged ‘per page’ moneymaking scheme by junior DPWH staff
Metro Manila, Philippines - Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Friday, Sept. 12. accused junior personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) of extorting contractors by charging thousands of pesos for each page of required documents.
In a statement, Lacson said the practice has become a new scheme on top of long-standing commissions and “obligations” contractors already face at the district engineering level.
“Corruption has become systemic where greed has evolved. Now they add requirements that cost money per page of bidding documents and material testing reports. Even individual pages of documentary requirements come at a price,” Lacson said in Filipino.
Citing reports reaching his office, Lacson said contractors are allegedly charged:
+ P10,000 for technical notes like a variation order, plus P2,000 per page per request
+ At least P50,000 for planning and design soft copies, depending on the region
+ 1% of the contract cost for materials testing reports, with no receipt
+ At least P50,000 for bid documents
+ P5,000 per inspector for initial billing inspections, with additional charges for signatories if documents are prepared by DPWH insiders
+ P75,000 plus P5,000 per project engineer for final billing
+ P50,000 for quality assurance conducted by the Central Office
+ P50,000 to P200,000 for the Construction Performance Evaluation System
Lacson, who chairs the blue ribbon committee investigating corruption in flood control projects, said these practices reflect how deeply entrenched corruption has become in the DPWH.
In privilege speeches last month, Lacson detailed how some DPWH engineers had grown so wealthy from illicit commissions that they could gamble away millions in casinos.
He said junior personnel are now following the example of their superiors.
“The junior personnel see their district engineers get rich, so they decide to get rich as well,” he said.
“The lower-ranking personnel add requirements to ‘punish’ the contractors. But the real ones being punished are us taxpayers,” he said.
