(UPDATE) ADMINISTRATIVE and criminal charges will be filed against Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials involved in ghost flood control projects in Bulacan province.
Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan gave this assurance on Thursday even as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the creation of a legal team that would determine the involvement of DPWH officials, contractors and even members of Congress, who might be facing economic sabotage and other charges.
Bonoan said he has already ordered the removal of DPWH district engineering officials who were supposed to implement nonexistent flood control projects.
Bonoan said the DPWH regional offices concerned, for the meantime, would take over the function of the district offices where the officials were removed.
“We are fully documenting everything, and if results of the investigation prove the involvement of public works officials, we will file all the corresponding cases, regardless of the personalities involved in the anomaly,” he added.
DPWH earlier provided Malacañang with a list of 15 top contractors that bagged most of the DPWH projects, but Bonoan said that he is looking beyond this list.
He also clarified that not all on the list of completed flood control projects from July 2022 to May 2025 that he submitted to Malacañang were started under the Marcos administration.
DPWH records show that SYMS Construction Trading, the firm responsible for the alleged ghost projects, has bagged a total of 16 flood control projects worth around P1 billion, all located in Bulacan.
Based on project records obtained by The Manila Times, of the 16 contracts, SYMS had 14 solo contracts and shared the two others with Wawao Builders.
The same records showed that 12 of the projects were completed in 2024, three in 2023 and one in 2022.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in a privilege speech, identified Bulacan as having the most number of anomalous projects.