Mayor Renato Gustilo said on Tuesday, August 19, that his signature was forged on documents involving three “ghost” flood control projects claimed to have been constructed in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, for P306.4 million from 2023 to 2024.
Gustilo has asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the ghost flood control projects falsely claimed to have been entered into by the San Carlos City government with three contractors who are not from Negros Occidental.
“These anomalous ghost projects involving millions or even billions of pesos perpetrated by DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) personnel in cahoots with unscrupulous contractors must be thoroughly investigated so that those responsible will be flushed out and be held accountable,” Gustilo said in his letter to NBI Director Judge Jaime Santiago on Monday, August 18.
Gustilo told Santiago he came to know about the anomalous projects when Ma. Victoria S. Gregorio, DPWH Central Office Director IV for Procurement Service, sent him letters on different dates requesting confirmation on the authenticity of the documents issued in connection with the three flood control projects.
There are no existing records on the construction of flood control projects at Andoon River, Jigalaman River, and Palampas River in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, by the contractors named by Gregorio, Gustilo said.
The three alleged projects are:
• A flood control project at Palampas River in Brgy 1, San Carlos City, worth P151,516,751.50, allegedly started on Feb. 10, 2023, and completed on Jan. 12, 2024, by A.P.O. General Construction from Saliok, Mountain Province;
• A flood control project at Andoon River in Poblacion, San Carlos City, worth P77,573,757.60, allegedly started on April 13, 2023, and completed on Dec. 18, 2023, by E.K.C. Construction and Aggregates from La Trinidad, Benguet; and
• A flood control project in the Jigalaman River in Brgy Guadalupe, San Carlos City, worth P77,364,067.20, allegedly started April 12, 2023, and completed Dec. 14, 2023, by Jaben General Contracting & Engineering Services from Baguio City in Benguet.
The projects are, without any iota of doubt, ghost projects because the San Carlos City government never entered into a contract with such contractors who are based in Benguet and the Mountain Province, Gustilo said.
Gustilo also pointed out that his signature was forged on the following documents: Notice of Award, Notice to Proceed, Contract Agreement, Certificate of Completion and Acceptance, and Certificate of Final Acceptance.
He also said he did not appear before a lawyer named Maria Luisa Cecilia E. Garcia to have the contracts of agreement notarized. “To the best of my knowledge there is no Notary Public bearing such name here in San Carlos City,” he said.
The signatures of Engineer Rodney Flores in the Certificates of Completion and Acceptance were also forged, the mayor said. Flores was mistakenly designated as City Engineer when his forged signature was affixed on the Certificate of Completion and Acceptance, he said.
Flores was not the San Carlos City Engineer, not even an OIC-City Engineer, at the time he allegedly affixed his signature, because he was and still is Engineer III at the City Engineering Department, Gustilo said.
Gustilo also sent the NBI a certification from the San Carlos Bids and Awards Committee duly noted by the BAC Chairperson that the contractors involved in the ghost projects are not included in the official registry of suppliers/contractors maintained by the City Government of San Carlos City.
San Carlos OIC-District Engineer Juan Alfonso G. Jorbina Sr. also said the three contractors named had not implemented any flood control projects in San Carlos City.
There are flood control projects in San Carlos but they were not implemented by the three named contractors, he said.*