Perhaps stung by the recent revelations of neglect, incompetence and, possibly, corruption, Public Works Secretary and water czar Babes Singson has renewed his order to his subordinates to review and, if warranted, order the cancellation of all ongoing questionable contracts nationwide.
More important, after due investigation, the blacklisting of the erring contractors and, possibly, the filing of administrative cases against negligent agency officials. This is well and good. In fact, we were of the impression that the matter of performance and accountability was an embedded effort at the department that was made even more pronounced when Singson took over so there was no need to even reiterate it. Well, it appears not to be so and blacksliding may now be back sooner than the public had thought. Poor Mr. Singson. His boys may be running circles around him as he traipses from one assignment to another and runs around like some of his Cabinet colleagues bombarding the media with their “good intentions and initiatives.”
We recall that a week or two ago, Singson’s attention was called to the photoshopped picture of three senior DPWH officials who materialized at the Roxas Boulevard breakwater a day after Typhoon Pedring, seemingly in discussion on what to do with the damaged seawall. It was a timely and well-regarded effort, which at the time earned pogi points for Singson and his crew. The only problem was it turned that the inspection never happened at all and, as it was later revealed by no less than the Commission on Audit (COA), the DPWH has actually been slow, if not altogether negligent, in the implementation of much-needed priority “rehabilitation and construction” works across the board. The COA advised that the agency failed to implement 79 such priority projects despite the availability of funds, which may have contributed to the multibillion-peso damage on various infrastructure and communities nationwide. In fact, if the analysts are to be believed, the seeming diffidence of Singson and his Cabinet colleagues, notably Secretaries Abad and Purisima, in disbursing programmed infrastructure funds may have contributed to the slower-than-expected growth in the past semester. But that will have to be another column.
In any event, Singson’s belated order is most welcome. It is time to wake up to the fact that we cannot hold back on our infrastructure rehabilitation and development program. We cannot afford to unduly hoard our programmed resources for this critical sector based on the excesses and questionable practices of the past. We cannot stand by and wait for our infrastructure backbone to wither and crack before we get our acts together. I mean there should be nothing wrong with reviewing contracts to ensure proper performance, but we should not overdo it. I am glad Secretary Singson has finally decided to take a closer look at the works in the pipeline. For a while there, I thought he was being overworked with additional assignments coming from no less than President Aquino himself. I just hope this renewed effort will not be sabotaged by certain elements at the DPWH that apparently have not cast off their wayward ways. I hope his attention will not be distracted by peripheral issues, which his own boys at the agency maybe feeding him with in a bid to hide their own negligent and corrupt practices.
It’s the fiber, stupid
Take the case of the Osmeña Highway flyover that underwent repairs recently but which Singson himself has now ordered redone in view of sloppy work. The project, which was awarded to Tokwing Construction in April was originally priced at P46,668,516.42 and was supposed to be finished within 120 days. Well, it was finished all right on August 28 but, for some reason, at a completed price of P100 million or a cost overrun of P54 million, more or less. How this came about should be looked into by the COA and Singson himself, if only to ensure that the guilty are punished and the innocents spared from innuendoes and false charges. I have been receiving reports and text messages from DPWH insiders advising me about the seeming ability of this Tokwing Construction not only to secure contracts left and right despite its having been blacklisted earlier and its continuing inability to deliver on its projects on time and within specifications but in having variation orders along the way.
In fact, in this particular case, if Singson does not watch out Tokwing Construction may again be able to get off the hook thanks to its “patrons” within the department. Imagine, these guys are about to assign the blame on the project’s disrepair only a month after it was supposed to have been repaired on factors other than the main reason for such a sad state. For example, Singson’s order to DPWH-NCR Director Rey Tagudando on September 14, 2011, for the contractor to redo the job at its own, hammered on the asphalt-paving, pitting the findings of the quality assurance units of the department proper (BRS) and its NCR counterpart. The latter had earlier advised that there was nothing wrong with the asphalt overlay and pointed to the use of fiber reinforcement polymer (FRP) on the entire stretch being repaired, including those on the suspended slabs which was not only violative of the contract itself but of good engineering sense. The DPWH guidelines (PGM-G50/50) specify that “concrete slabs must have full contact to the base course without allowing any movements. Relaxation of slabs, if necessary, vertical and tilt movement have to be avoided in any case.”
Well, this was not the case on this project. Why this was disregarded should be worth looking into. We are being told, and I hope Singson and his crew will look deeper into this matter, that the FRP component was the easiest and most lucrative way by which the syndicates at the DPWH could make their pile. Which they did as it now appears they were able to wangle a variation on the contract to inject the laying of almost 8000 square meters of fiber (the entire stretch) instead of the original requirement of only 199 square meters. At a unit price of P9428.49, the original contract price for FRP was only P1,876,269.51. If, indeed, as is now being proven, the DPWH issued a variation order for 8000 square meters, that would total to a whooping P75,427,920, almost twice the original contract for the entire repair works. No wonder Tokwing Construction did not even holler when ordered to redo the project at no cost to the government. It has already inputted such a re-repair cost in its variation operation. Of course, with the blessings of the DPWH syndicate which we understand is now under the protective umbrella of one of Singson’s deputies.
Whether Singson is aware of this maneuver or and has done something about it remains to be seen. If he is not, then this should serve as a warning for him to get another team to take a second, maybe even a third look, at this contract and its variations to ensure that the guilty parties are exposed and punished. This new team will not only find out about the unwarranted application of fiber reinforcement polymer in violation of the contract and the agency’s own regulations but about the sordid details of the supplier itself. They will find out that this is not product accredited and the supplier is not accredited, as well. They will also find out that this was not in the original design itself and was even disregarded during actual execution. In other words, the syndicate cavalierly insisted on its use probably thinking they could get away with it. And they are about to if we go by Singson’s latest order, which we hope he will now revise once he gets hold of the “second opinion,” as it were. But, this is the real whopper. It now turns out that the real price of this polymer is not P9428.49 as quoted in the Tokwing contract. It can be bought at maximum of P349 per square meter. It was 27 times overpriced. Wonder no more why the syndicate ordered the laying of this overpriced product on the entire stretch instead of just a teeny-weeny portion. Whew, grabe!
