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LEGAZPI CITY — Albay Gov. Noel Rosal has uncovered P599 million worth of road projects that have been declared “completed” but no concrete infrastructure found during inspection on Cagraray Island, Bacacay town.
In a report to the governor, municipal and barangay officials said that the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) has tagged the road projects as completed but when Rosal and his team went to the site, following the complaints from residents, they found no physical evidence of the concrete road.
Bacacay town councilor Faith Torre and Cagbulacao barangay captain Noel Bombales presented to Rosal a report submitted by the DPWH Albay 1st District Engineering Office (DEO) to the office of Mayor Daniel Jose Romano Bombales, indicating that the Cabasan-Pongco Bonga-Uson road, funded under the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA) worth P100 million, is already completed.
The contractor of the project was Sunwest Construction and Development Corp.
The P100-million, 1.8-kilometer road project was supposed to traverse the villages of Cabasan, Pongco Bonga and Uson.
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Cagbulacao village chieftain Bombales also reported to Rosal that the four other road projects, each having a budget of P100 million, have been tagged by the DPWH as completed. These are the Cagbulacao-Tanagan Ridge view (phase 2); Manaet to Tanagan Ridge View; Tanagan to Manaet Ridge View (phase 2); and Tanagan-Manaet Ridge View.
These are all funded under the 2022 GAA and constructed by Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., Bombales said.
Another ghost project discovered by Rosal was the Salvacion-Santicon-Sulong-Napao road network worth P99 million, also funded under 2022 GAA. The registered contractor of the project was Hi-Tone.
The project was reported by the DPWH Albay 1st District Engineering Office as completed in 2022.
Rosal said he will ask the DPWH regional office to explain why these projects were tagged as completed.
Soon after Rosal posted on social media of the alleged ghost project in Cabasan-Pongco Bonga-Uson, the DPWH Albay 1st District Engineering Office issued a statement, saying that the project was completed in November 2022 and implemented in full compliance with the approved contract agreement.
It said that the project, with an allocation of P100 million, involves 1,800 meters of road opening, the construction of cross-drainage and slope protection structures.
While the project is tagged as “Construction of Concrete Road” under the DPWH Standard Type of Work classification, it must be emphasized that this is just phase 1 of the undertaking.
The scope of work covered by phase 1 was limited to road opening and protective structures. The road concreting component is programmed to be funded in succeeding years, subject to approval under the regular budget, with the necessary endorsement from the Regional Development Council.
The DPWH-Albay 1st DEO said it remains committed to ensuring transparency in project implementation and delivering quality infrastructure that will benefit the communities of Bacacay and the first district of Albay.
“The cost of the 1.8-kilometer road opening is already P100 million? Why the DPWH reported the scope of work construction as concrete road when it’s just road opening. Anyway, we invited the DPWH on Thursday to explain it to us before I will report that to the President (Ferdinand Marcos Jr.),” Rosal said.
“There is no existing concrete road, reported as completed by the Sunwest contractor worth P100 million. It turns out that the barangay and DPWH have issues here. The 2022 GAA projects that are road concreting and reported complete by DPWH but in actuality are just road opening.”
Rosal also received a report that the construction of the Cagbulacao-Manaet-Tanagan road project has caused serious flooding in the area.
Bombales also told the governor that the project has affected the habitat of the wild monkeys and other endangered species in the Cagbulacao-Manaet-Tanagan area.
