Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Residents go about their daily activities in Barangay Meyto, Calumpit, Bulacan on September 10, 2025. SumbongSaPangulo.ph listed seven flood control projects in Barangays Meyto and San Jose, Calumpit, Bulacan—worth hundreds of millions of pesos and supposedly completed between 2023 and 2024 under the Bulacan First District Engineering Office, which is under scrutiny for alleged ghost projects in the province. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

FLOOD CONTROL PROBE - CALUMPIT

Benise Balaoing

RG Cruz

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175816522378620250910-flood-control-barangay-meyto-JC2-4.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Residents go about their daily activities in Barangay Meyto, Calumpit, Bulacan on September 10, 2025. SumbongSaPangulo.ph listed seven flood control projects in Barangays Meyto and San Jose, Calumpit, Bulacan—worth hundreds of millions of pesos and supposedly completed between 2023 and 2024 under the Bulacan First District Engineering Office, which is under scrutiny for alleged ghost projects in the province. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA <strong>(UPDATED) </strong>— A government official on Thursday confirmed news reports that some of the top 15 contractors who bagged most of the government&#x27;s flood control projects have unsatisfactory ratings from the Construction Performance Evaluation System (CPES).</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/18/-binabastos-mo-kami-curlee-discaya-cited-in-contempt-for-allegedly-lying-1036"><strong>&#x27;Binabastos mo kami&#x27;: Senate panel cites Curlee Discaya in contempt for allegedly lying about wife&#x27;s absence</strong></a></div><p>Speaking at the Senate investigation on allegedly anomalous &quot;ghost&quot; or substandard flood control projects, Government Procurement Policy Board-Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO) officer-in-charge Ma. Dionesia Guillermo said the CPES reports are posted on their website.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kpbqr2s2yEY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Guillermo explained that the CPES report is prepared by the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP). The CIAP has a number of implementing offices, including a CPES unit in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).</p><p>The official noted that the CPES, under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, is already a ground for blacklisting a contractor.</p><p>She stressed, however, that blacklisting is up to the purchasing entity—or as in the case of the flood control projects, the DPWH.</p><p>Newly-appointed Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon noted that the government officials seem to not have looked into the CPES, or implemented any safeguards to prevent anomalies in flood control projects.</p><p>&quot;Ang nakakagulat pa po dito, hindi lang po bad performance ang &#x27;di na-monitor at hindi naaksyunan. In fact, marami po tayong nakita...marami pa po ditong mga proyekto na hindi lang bad performance, no performance at all,&quot; he said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>DIZON: HUNDREDS OF REPORTS OF &#x27;GHOST&#x27; PROJECTS RECEIVED</strong></div><p>Dizon also told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee they have received more than a hundred reports of ghost or substandard projects in the last two weeks, covering various places nationwide.</p><p>While cases have been filed with the Ombudsman, future cases will be referred to the newly created Independent Commission for Infrastructure.</p><p>&quot;Bawat po project na nag-report, nagbubukas po kami ng case file dito. Ini-inspection po natin, either personally or yung pong mga ibang kasama natin sa team,&quot; he said.</p><p>(For every report, we open a case file and do an inspection, either personally or we send a member of our team)</p><p>He said as soon as they see indications of irregularities like the use of substandard materials or being left unfinished, the DPWH prepares a case that it will forward to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure.</p><p>Sen. Erwin Tulfo meanwhile said he suspects massive collusion in  the ranks.</p><p>&quot;Yung mga dating opisyal na DPWH simula sa taas hanggang sa baba, hanggang sa mga district engineer, project engineer, nakikipag-sabwatan sa mga contractor para kumita. &quot; Tulfo said.</p><p>(The former DPWH officials, from top to bottom — until the district engineer, project engineer — collude with the contractor to profit from this)</p><p>&quot;Absolutely agree, Mr. Chairman,&quot; Dizon said.</p><p>Tulfo said the government has mechanisms like Technical Working Groups and Bids and Awards Committees that should be able to spot red flags and not allow ghost projects to happen.</p><p>&quot;Tama po ba? Dapat doon pa lamang po napigilan na,&quot; Tulfo said.</p><p>(Isn&#x27;t it that it should be caught at those levels?)</p><p>Dizon added that their own internal investigation has shown many projects that were marked completed and paid within months when they should have taken longer.</p><p>&quot;Lumalabas po sa mga papeles, miraculously, natapos po kuno itong mga proyektong ito at nabayaran po itong ibang mga kontraktor dito within months.&quot;</p><p>(What we are seeing in the documents, miraculously, these projects were supposedly completed and the contractors were paid within months)</p><p>Dizon says their legal team has initiated proceedings to claim the five-year warranty for these projects.</p><p>He cannot yet say the total amount involved but said it may go into the tens or hundreds of billions.</p><div><br/></div><div><em></em><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><em></em></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A3JZUsaUpzQ?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Some of the top 15 contractors who bagged most of the government's flood control projects have unsatisfactory ratings from the Construction Performance Evaluation System.</p>

Some of the top 15 contractors who bagged most of the government's flood control projects have unsatisfactory ratings from the Construction Performance Evaluation System.

Some top flood control contractors have unsatisfactory performance ratings: exec

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Some top flood control contractors have unsatisfactory performance ratings: exec

Benise Balaoing,

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 18, 2025 11:15 AM PHT

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Updated September 18, 2025 03:27 PM PHT

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contractors

flood control projects

ghost projects

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