- DPWH chief fumes over ‘ghost’ flood control project in Davao Occidental
PUBLIC Works Secretary Vince Dizon will issue a show-cause order on Friday, Sept. 26, on all district engineering offices of Davao Occidental over the alleged flood control project in Jose Abad Santos that the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) team visited on Thursday, Sept. 25.
Dizon was joined by ICI special adviser Mayor Benjamin Magalong in inspecting the P96.5 million infrastructure project in Jose Abad Santos by contractor St. Timothy Construction Corp.
The project, started in 2022, was “found to be completely unfinished, despite the contractor having been fully paid by the government.”
St. Timothy Construction is owned by controversial couple Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya and Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya.
Dizon was reportedly furious during an inspection of the project near the Culaman Bridge in Davao Occidental. He even scolded District Engineer Rodrigo Larete on-site.
“We receive reports from the communities. We have to fix it so that the contractor has to fix it. Has to finish it. Bayad sya eh,” he said during a press briefing held at the DPWH Engineering Office in Panacan on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025.
The infrastructure project, which began and was funded during the previous administration, appeared to have barely started.
For his part, Larete admitted that the winning bidder, St. Timothy Construction Company, was already marked as fully paid by the agency.
Local residents confirmed to investigators that virtually no construction work had been completed. The unfinished facility was designed to mitigate flooding and protect a nearby community and school from seasonal inundation.
“Walang nangyari dun last 2022. Nagkaroon lang ng construction last month,” Dizon said. “Karong klaro na it’s a ghost project.”
He also noted the conflicting accounts between the district engineer and barangay officials and residents of the area. The village official also told the ICI that he could provide evidence to help them in their investigation.
“Nakikita namin mga kaso unang una three cases graft and corrupt practices, Republic Act 309, tapos meron tayong malversation of funds under Article 217. Meron din tayong violation on procurement, aside from the administrative violation of Republic Act 6713,” he said.
Magalong also did not discount the involvement of politicians in the ghost projects, considering that “sa mga nakikita namin sa ibang projects lagi nalang merong politicians.”
Photo courtesy of ICI
