SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 01 November) — The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) of Surigao del Norte has called for an investigation into alleged “ghost projects” in Siargao Island.
The move came after SP member John Cubilan claimed in a privilege speech last week that several projects in Siargao Island by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that were reported as completed on the agency’s portal were found to be either missing, half-built or nonexistent upon inspection.
Cubilan mentioned the rehabilitation of the Roxas-Sta. Paz Road, construction of seawall in Barangay Bitaug, Burgos, and the barangay road improvement in San Isidro, all reflected as completed on the DPWH portal.
He also cited the rehabilitation of Junction Surigao-Dapa-Del Carmen Road, which was reported as completed but found either abandoned or untouched.
“Who would have thought that our greatest ‘multo’ (ghost) is the one that got away? The ones of stories we’d tell to scare the children?” Cubilan, who called it a case of “systematic falsification,” asked in his privilege speech.
Cubilan urged the SP to demand accountability and to call on Ombudsman investigators to follow the paper trail.
The body responded by passing a resolution urging the Independent Commission on Infrastructure, DPWH, Commission on Audit, Ombudsman, and Department of Justice to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the alleged ghost projects.
SP member Jeff Larong told Cubilan the investigation into “ghost projects” should also cover District 2 in mainland Surigao del Norte.
But the SP did not approve Larong’s motion, saying he could not present “ghost projects” in the second district, only reports of cracks on concrete bridges.
Several concrete bridges in Surigao del Norte’s second district — completed during the tenure of former congressman Robert Ace Barbers — have come under fire after residents shared images of visible cracks online.
The Bonifacio-Poctoy Bridge drew particular concern, with critics alleging substandard work linked to Barbers’ projects.
In a press conference with local media on October 20, Barbers called the reports “fake news,” saying concrete epoxy was used based upon engineering standards for minor hairline cracks.
He added that construction oversight is the job of project engineers and contractors, not his.
In his Facebook page, Edito Mapayo of Lite FM posted an interview with Ariel Nogaliza, barangay chair of San Mateo, Burgos in which the official complained about an irrigation project that has remained unused years after its completion due to an alleged construction error that made the water flow towards the drainage canals instead of the rice fields.
The project was implemented by Boometrix Development Corporation, a firm closely linked to the long-entrenched Matugas family and which reportedly bagged billions in government projects across the province, with many structures alleged by Mapayo to have been declared finished but were either poorly done, delayed, or altogether absent.
“Next time, they should not do this again because they only fooled us,” Nogaliza said in the interview. “We pay our taxes properly, yet we ended up with this kind of useless project.”
Mapayo aired the interview on his morning public affairs program “Bogboganay sa Buntag” over Lite FM, a radio station based in Barangay Mabini, Placer, Surigao del Norte.
Reacting to reports by an online news portal that the firm cornered P10 billion worth of DPWH projects in Caraga Region, Dapa, Siargao Island Mayor Elizabeth Matugas, mother of Boometrix owner Ronald Abejo, told Jun Clerigo of RPN DXKS FM in Surigao City, in his program “Radyo Ronda Balita” on October 10, that she already relinquished her affiliation with the company after she became mayor in 2013.
“I want to clear this to the people of Dapa that Boometrix projects are not implemented in my area of jurisdiction,” she said. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)
