Some officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) may have had a hand in the

P8.7-billion road right-of-way scam uncovered here and in nearby areas of South Cotabato, Sen. Richard
Gordon said on Friday.
“There is a mighty syndicate here that is operating right under our noses. And I cannot believe that there
are certain sectors within DPWH who are being unfair to the rest of the good employees,” Gordon, chair
of the blue ribbon committee, said during the Senate probe of the questionable road project.

Fake claimants

He said the DPWH in Koronadal City paid billions of pesos to fake road right-of-way claimants.
The payments, Gordon said, were made through checks issued by Land Bank of the Philippines and
Development Bank of the Philippines, also in Koronadal City. These were claimed by people who passed
themselves off as representatives of the claimants.

Gordon identified Joan Ortega, Jane Ariolla, Nancy Catoto, Hazel Ann Tupalla, Flordeliza Alipis, Susan
Alido, Pee Ann Herman, Jumel Manalang, Herman Daitol Susan Rallies and John Bacudo among those
who got paid.

Reynaldo Tamayo, former director of the DPWH in Central Mindanao, said the transactions for the
claims payments were initiated in 2012.
“We inspected the site to determine if they’re authentic and found out the claimants have authentic
papers,” he said.

Tamayo said the checks were released three years later to the claimants.
Leonardo Dinopol, head of the General Santos City assessors office, said his office never issued spurious
documents, contrary to the claim of whistleblower Roberto Catapang Jr.

Catapang, now under the witness protection program, said the syndicate had contacts in the assessors
office who prepared the documents to support the spurious claims.
He said at least 50 fake titles were issued tax declaration documents by the assessors.
Sen. Manny Pacquiao, chair of the public works committee, said he learned that the modus operandi of
the syndicate was to “claim for just compensation of road right of way, which are intended for rightful
owners, whose lands were affected by national highway construction.”

The Senate right-of-way scam hearings will resume on May 8.

The National Bureau of Investigation has filed a plunder complaint against former Public Works
Secretary Rogelio Singson.

The others sued by the NBI were David Padlan, the officer in charge of the planning and design division
of DPWH Region 12; Hadji Ibrahim A. Marohom, former chief of the finance division; Faisal Padate,
former legal unit chief; Tomas Rodriguez, former assistant regional director; Siniloan Macarambon,
former regional director; and other DPWH officials and employees.

Part 2

The National Bureau of investigation (NBI) on Wednesday filed before the Office of the Ombudsman a
plunder complaint against former public works secretary Rogelio Singson and 33 others in connection
with an alleged right of way scam in General Santos City.

“This Bureau respectfully recommends that the erring government officials and their cohorts be charged
of Plunder with a recommendation of forfeiture proceedings; violation of Section 3(e) of RA (Republic
Act) 3019 otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and administratively be charged
for Grave Misconduct and Dishonesty,” NBI Director Dante A. Gierran said in his letter dated March 20,
2018, to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
Based on the complaint, Singson allegedly requested payments for the claimants based on spurious
documents submitted by the regional office of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
He also allegedly authorized the payment in favor of the claimants who turned out to be bogus.

When sought for comment, Singson, who is currently out of the country, said he would first have to get
details of the complaint.

Aside from Singson, named respondents were David L. Padlan, OIC-Chief Planning and Design Division
of DPWH Region 12; Hadji Ibrahim A. Marohom, (retired) Chief Finance Division of DPWH Region 12;
Atty. Faisal A. Padate, (retired) Chief Legal Unit of DPWH; Tomas M. Rodriguez, (retired) Assistant
Regional Director of DPWH Region 12; Siniloan T. Macarambon, (retired) Regional Director of DPWH
Region 12; Engr. Rodel L. Unos, former Special Agent II of the DPWH’s Technical Working Group
(TWG); Ansare M. Busran, Legal Officer III of DPWH 12; Reynaldo S. Tamayo, former Regional
Director (retired) in Poblacio, Tupi, South Cotabato; Noraisa U. Abdullah, Accountant IV of DPWH 12;
Julieta P. Marundan, Chief Finance Division of DPWH 12; Nassef A. Papandayan, Accountant III of
DPWH 12; Laurean B. Suan Jr., former Assistant Regional Director (retired); Subair S. Diron, Former
Regional Director of DPWH 12; Israel L. Balolong, Engineer II of DPWH 12; Roger A. Oducayen,
Engineer III of DPWH 12, Ser John Pastrana, Chief Micrographings Division from the Land Registration
Authority (LRA); Edgar G. Pampanga, OIC-Register of Deeds in General Santos City.

Also included in the complaint are resident auditors from the Commission on Audit (CoA) at the DPWH
Region 12 namely Carmencita Eden T. Talub and Elmina P. Buenbrazo. The NBI also included in the
complaint private individuals namely Atty. Jose Emilio Valentin, Atty. Bonifacio Doria, Paul Michael P.
Bagio, Marisa Tiongson Seguirre, William P. Uy, Marie Faye Villamarin, Mary Ann Joyce, Nelson Ti,
Wilma Olarte Mamburam, Col. Chino Mamburam, Mercedita Dumlao, Evelyn Paloso, Rudy Haji Ong
and Roberto Catapang.

Last year, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II ordered the NBI to investigate the claims of Catapang
who admitted that he was part of a syndicate that fabricated and submitted fake documents such as land
titles, special power of attorney, tax declarations, and appraisal reports to claim “just compensation” from
the government through the DPWH.

Just compensation is the fair value of the property between one who receives and one who desires to sell,
fixed at the time of the actual taking by the government.
Catapang, who has been admitted to the government’s Witness Protection Program, said that once the
claims were cleared by the concerned government agencies, the claims for just compensation were
processed by the DPWH for a fee exclusive of their share in the proceeds of the bogus claims.

According to Aguirre, the modus operandi of the syndicate was to claim compensation for the road right
of way intended for land owners affected by the construction of a highway in General Santos City.
During a Senate hearing, Singson denied involvement in the alleged scam which reportedly defrauded the
government of P8.7 billion during previous administrations.
Singson said many of the claims were made in 2007 and 2009 when he was not yet public works
secretary.

However, he acknowledged that he authorized the payment of P2 billion for claims despite his misgivings
that the amounts seemed too much.
He said he authorized the payments based on documents submitted by the Department of Public Works
and Highways based in Region 12.

Nevertheless, he said he ordered a stop to the payments in 2012 if these were without the validation by the
Land Registration Authority.

Pacquiao Arguments

SENATOR Manny Pacquiao vowed to dig deeper into the multi-billion-peso right-of-way (ROW) scandal
that started in General Santos City, South Cotabato and Region 12 with syndicates using fake land titles.

“Mababaw pa ang imbestigasyon na ito. Sa nakikita ko, malalim at marami pa ang sangkot hindi lang
mababang opisyal kundi matataas na opisyal ng gobyerno,” said Pacquiao.
The senator called for a revamp of local officials of Land Registration Authority (LRA) and Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“I-revamp ang mga tao, contaminated na’ yung mga officials dun. Maraming involved at nakakainit ng
ulo talaga na sa imbestigasyon pag sumagot puro wala, puro wala ‘yung pirma na yan, ideny ‘yung mga
pirma nila. Nakakainit ng ulo parang gustong paglaruan ang gobyerno,” Pacquiao added.

Pacquiao, chairman of the Senate Public Works Committee, said that based on past committee hearings
the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) may have dirtied its hands when it set aside funds for
the payment for the questionable ROW claims approved by the Department of Public Works and
Highways (DPWH) and the LRA.

“Sa nakikita ko ngayon para bang may naga-arrange na sa DBM para maglaan ng pondo sa
ROW...Kumukuha pa kami ng ebidensya hanggang dun sa DBM. Yun ang nakikita namin so hindi kami
makapagbigay pa ng conclusion pero lalabas din yan kung ano ang katotohanan,” he said.

Pacquiao said syndicates’ fake claims might reach P8.7 billion.

He said the syndicates started their nefarious activity in 2010 and that this syndicated operation persisted
until he unraveled its operations recently.

Pacquiao and Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, resume Tuesday
their joint committee hearing on the LRA mess that he disclosed in a recent privilege speech.

“Para maiwasan ang mga pangyayaring ito like sa road right of way ay gagawin pa natin at maggagawa
pa tayo ng panukala na mababantayan itong mga scam na ito at sindikato na ito. Napakalalim kasi at
tatapusin lang namin ang imbestigasyon, malaking halaga talaga ang involved dito,’ di lang siguro P8.7
million ang involved dito,” said Pacquiao.

Another Version

Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao, chairman of the Senate public works committee, said that based on past
committee hearings the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) may have dirtied its hands when
it set aside funds for the payment for the questionable ROW claims approved by the Department of Public
Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Land Registration Authority (LRA).

He expected that syndicates’ fake claims might reach P8.7 billion.

Pacquiao will help Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, in resuming
Tuesday their joint committee hearing on the LRA mess that he disclosed in a recent privilege speech.

Based on the recent Senate hearings, Pacquiao said it appears that the DBM had set aside funds for ROW
claims that turned out to be the handiwork of syndicates.

Pacquiao said the syndicate started its nefarious activity starting in 2010 and that this syndicated
operation persisted until he unraveled its operations recently.

He said it is likely that syndicates had operated in other regions, particularly those under the jurisdiction
of the DPWH.

Pascquiao said he is drafting amendments to current laws on ROW claims that would hopefully make it
difficult for syndicates to use forged land titles in collecting government funds.

He stressed that the operation of syndicates is ‘’malalim’’ (deep) that requires the two committees to
conduct more hearings.

Like Gordon, Pacquiao sought a thorough revamp of the LRA where corruption is rife and that fake titles
could be had although its operation is computerized.
‘’Garbage in, garbage out (GIGO),’’ Gordon told the Manila Bulletin after conducting a public hearing on
the LRA anomaly last week.

Pacquaio, a boxing icon, described LRA as ‘’notorious’’ where its officials are ‘’contaminated (with
graft).’’

He did not hide his irritation at statements of LRA officials denying ownership of signatures on
documents shown during the public hearing.7

Asked during a radio interview yesterday, Pacquiao said he could not yet say how high the connection of
syndicates have on government agencies because he wanted to dig deeper into the scandal.

Earlier, Gordon asked President Duterte yesterday to overhaul the alleged graft-ridden Land Registration
Authority (LRA).

Gordon said this is one of his committee recommendations as his committee sought answers on the
multibillion-peso ROW anomaly.

One specific project is a four-lane 33-kilometer highway in General Santos city in 2013.

If the LRA is not overhauled, according to Gordon, the people would ‘’no longer rely on the most
important pillars of business and property ownership which is the title.’’

Others effects are the creation of doubts on real property ownership where nobody would come to the
country to invest as commercial transactions are affected, ownership would be questioned so that lands
could no longer be sold or passed on as inheritance, and it would be difficult to borrow from banks, he
added.

Although the registration of land titles at LRA has been digitized, still Gordon was not convinced by the
system as it could be corrupted.

Gordon said his committee would seek the tightening of the systems at the DPWH where it has to make
public announcements of its projects to safeguard public coffers.

He said he doubts on the integrity of the DPWH right-of-way expenditures as government projects could
not still give a tax mapping of real estate properties at General Santos city

For the 2018 fiscal year, the ROW budget of DPWH is P18 billion.

Gordon said there are 167 ROW folders pending at GenSan city with a total value of P6 billion.

He said he had told the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to
begin filing criminal charges against those involved in the payment of more than P2 billion to ROW
claimants as the evidence so far unearthed are enough.