The House of Representatives has recommended the filing of graft and other charges against public works officials and other people allegedly involved in the more than 3-billion-peso road right-of-way scam in Central Mindanao.
The House made the recommendation even as it adopted the report of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability led by Camiguin Rep. Jesus Xavier Romualdo.
The House under the leadership of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in plenary session, approved the resolution that recommended the prosecution of several Department of Public Works and Highways Region XII officers, including former Regional Directors Subair S. Diron and Reynaldo Tamayo.
Romualdo’s panel investigated the alleged large- scale road right-of-way scam in Central Mindanao.
In its report that was adopted before Congress adjourns on Feb. 9, the committee said “there is a manifest showing of a pattern employed by the syndicate led by Ms. Wilma Mamburam and Nelson Ti in submitting fabricated documents and representing fictitious claimants or landowners.
“The participation of several DPWH Region XII officers, including former Regional Directors Subair S. Diron and Reynaldo Tamayo, were instrumental in consummating their illegal scheme,” Romualdo said in the committee report he signed.
Romualdo’s committee found that Diron and Tamayo approved 127 ROW claims filed by members of the syndicate amounting to at least P3.3 billion and that Tamayo continued to approve the disbursement of the fourth and fifth tranches of payments for the same set of claims despite knowledge of the red flags that had already been brought to his attention by the Commission on Audit through management Letters.
The Romualdo committee found that Tamayo also “approved the verification, evaluation, and payment for new RROW claims amounting to more than P633 million filed by the same individuals in 2015-2016.”
In exchange for his approval, Tamayo, among other public officials, allegedly received 20 percent in commissions from the syndicate, witness Roberto Catapang Jr. claimed in his sworn statement.
The committee endorsed the filing of criminal cases against Mamburam, Ti, Diron and Tamayo, former Assistant Regional Director Laureano Suan Jr. and all members of the Regional RROW Committee and Technical Working Groups.
The Romualdo committee further recommended the conduct of lifestyle checks on the public officials involved and their immediate families, as well as for the Bureau of Internal Revenue to investigate those officials to determine whether tax-evasion cases should be filed against them.
The committee likewise recommended a review of the DPWH rules and practices regarding the right-of-way claims to prevent similar illegal schemes from happening again.
