QUEZON CITY. – Public Works Sec. Rogelio Singson endorsed favorably the proposed Public Works Reform Act authored by Rep. Erico B. Aumentado (2 nd District, Bohol) during the hearing on the bill last Wednesday at the House of Representatives. The Singson endorsement has bolstered the chance of the bill which seeks to curb corruption and upgrade the standard of horizontal constructions such as roads, bridges, ports and wharves in the country, to become a law. In his sponsorship speech, Aumentado said the measure supports President Aquino's drive against graft and corruption, and elevate to a higher standard public works projects such as roads, highways and bridges similar to the Bohol Circumferential Road Project contracted by Hanjin Heavy Industries Construction Co. Ltd., C.M. Pancho Construction Co. and the Gorones Construction Co. of the Aboitiz Group.

The 2 nd District solon noted that even the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank studies show that billions of pesos have been lost to corruption in the construction industry in the country where below-standard public works have been implemented that diminish the Philippines' global competitiveness in trade and industry. He said the alleged corruption in the department started from the planning and programming, through the bidding and awarding of contracts, to the implementation and payment of the project concerned. When approved into law, he said the measure will introduce reforms in DPWH to address the root of corruption therein and impose stiff penalties with special disqualification to hold any public office as deterrents for both the government personnel and private parties to obey in order to avoid any infraction of the legislation. Among the reforms proposed in the bill are: (a) the strict adherence to the DPWH Standard Specifications of 2004 and onwards, especially on base preparation for foundations, layer by layer soil compaction and drilling test; (b) punishment of those involved in collusion in bidding and award to the winning contractor;

(c) pre-qualification of blacklisted contractors and those with 25% negative slippage in any previous projects; (d) the mandatory use of batching plants for Portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP) and asphalt roadworks to ensure the quality standard of the project; (e) timelines in payment of billings; (f) prohibition in either consolidation of projects or splitting of projects; (g) the mandatory use of cement paver and asphalt paver for Official Development Assistance (ODA)-funded projects to ensure quality standard of PCCP and asphalt roadwork as addendum to the requirement under Item (d) of Section 3 of the bill; and, (h) banning DPWH personnel to enter and gamble in any gambling den or casino even during off hours while in government service, and public empowerment to monitor the project for transparency and accountability. The bill also directs the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to establish a point system in any bidding to include quality of equipments for more efficient and effective implementation of the project, environmental compliant equipments and camps. Whenever there is a requirement for a cement paver or an asphalt paver in PCCP and asphalt projects, respectively, the ISO with an international auditor such as TUV of Germany may be required by DPWH.

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Public Works chaired by Rep. Ronaldo Cosalan (Lone District, Benguet) approved the bills on the conversion of the Guindulman-Anda-Cogtong-Candijay-Mabini-Ubay Provincial Road into a national road and the provincial roads in President Garcia to national roads also last Wednesday. The approval, however, was subject to compliance of the requirements before the bills will undergo plenary debate by the House of Representatives. Aumentado, who is a member of the Committee on Public Works, has authored the two measures. The conversion of the Guindulman-Anda-Cogtong-Candijay-Mabini-Ubay Provincial Road into a national road is a requirement for the implementation of the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project Phase III to be funded by the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF)-Korea Export-Import Bank (Eximbank). In a related development, Gov. Edgar Chatto expressed appreciation for Aumentado's efforts to convert provincial roads to national roads so as to lessen the burden of the provincial government to maintain the former, which are now the subject of legislative conversion. The 2 nd District solon has lined up also the conversion of the (Sta. Fe) Danao (Magkaya) Buenavista-(Lapacan) Inabanga, the  Danao-Mahayag (San Miguel), the Ubay-San Miguel via Gabi, and the San Isidro-Catigbian via Caimbang provincial roads into national roads.