CANDIDO AND GARCI
It could well be that some of those contracts were part of the Palace’s attempts to win votes for its candidates in the 2007 polls, in which Acosta’s sister vied for his old Congress seat. Candido P. Pancrudo Jr., one of the Palace’s two bets in the district, eventually won the right to take Acosta’s slot in the House.

The other contender was Virgilio Garcillano Jr., the former election commissioner in the ‘Hello, Garci’ wiretapped tapes on alleged cheating in the 2004 elections in favor of Arroyo.

Interestingly enough, between July 2007 and August 2008 alone, the district racked up about 40 civic-works contracts, most of them for road resurfacing projects.

Acosta himself had sought an explanation for the other “mysterious” projects in his district. In August 2006, he delivered a privilege speech in Congress seeking an investigation of the district engineer in his area for “gross anomalies or irregularities” in the implementation of projects in 2005 and 2006. The anomalies included alleged payroll-padding and non-delivery of materials to project sites despite full payments for such. The result: incomplete projects, or completed projects with unpaid laborers.

Acosta says he had been overseas on a six-month study leave and had come home “bombarded” with complaints about the projects. He adds, “I felt that they took advantage of my absence and they played around the projects in my district.”

He says he held accountable in particular District Engineer Lota Gamboa, who never showed up in public hearings at the House but resigned a few months later, and the head of the construction section, Engineer Roger Balboa.

Acosta admits, though, that contractors had also told him they had assumed he had received the money they said they gave to his representatives. In all probability, the contractors believed they were doing business as usual, Congress-style.

FROM 30% TO 50%
After all, contractors and procurement officials have long offered a common narrative: From budgeting to construction of projects, particularly during the bidding of contracts, politicians exploit the weaknesses of the system to solicit and accept bribes.

Contractors and congressmen alike affirm kickback figures quoted in previous PCIJ reports, including the 2003 book The Rulemakers. "Easily 30 percent," says one contractor, referring to the percentage of kickbacks from the total project cost. He says the number could even go as high as 50 percent if the contractor is a politician in the project area.

Asked who get to share the kickback, the contractor hesitates before responding: “Well, who else but the politicians — not just the congressman, but the governor, mayor, and sometimes down to the level of barangay officials. And of course those from the DPWH.”

The participation of DPWH personnel in what many have described as collusion in the awarding of civic-work contracts could also help explain why some opposition-held areas appear to have bucked the odds and received more projects than other places. A senior congressional staff member quips that “some district engineers are smarter than others” and manage to get more contracts for their districts.

At the same time, says the Congress staffer, other projects could have been implemented by the regional engineering offices. The engineering districts thus appear to have fewer number or smaller value of contracts appearing on the DPWH list.

District engineers are authorized to bid out and implement projects worth up to P50 million. Contracts valued above P50 million up to P200 million fall under the jurisdiction of regional directors. The DPWH head office is in charge of projects worth in excess of P200 million.

PORK FOR POLS
More notably, the DPWH database online does not enroll projects supported by the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). Otherwise known as ‘pork barrel,’ PDAF is the fund legislators have practically institutionalized in the budget so that at whim or whenever they please, they would have something into which they could dip their fingers.

The country’s 24 senators get P200 million each, and 238 House members, P70 million each in pork barrel, for an aggregate total of P21.46 billion a year. More than half of each lawmaker’s PDAF allotment is meant to go to infrastructure projects.

With the additional 32 party-list representatives at the House, the allocation for PDAF should increase by P2.24 billion a year. That is, if they will also all be given their fair share.

Called the ‘countrywide development fund’ or CDF during the Ramos administration, PDAF was intended to be the ‘fund equalizer’ so that all congressional districts could get equal access to public funds, regardless of economic status and needs. In practice, however, Palace critics consider themselves lucky if they get anything from PDAF at all.

One congressman says when it comes to PDAF, party affiliation matters. “Neither the DPWH nor other politicians can meddle (with releases from it),” says the lawmaker. “Malacanang controls it.”

Like Tañada, Acosta says he stopped receiving his PDAF share after he became among the pro-impeachment legislators in July 2005.

Tañada, though, wants to believe that some senators, particularly those who were aware that funds for areas held by opposition members of the House were being withheld, may have included his district in their congressional insertions.

But what Tañada apparently considers a boon given his circumstances has been used by legislators to hold the DPWH budget hostage – a tactic that has gained more impact given the current administration’s fascination for infrastructure projects.

INSERTIONS APLENTY
According to a member of the House’s powerful appropriations committee, the DPWH budget is “always one of the last agencies to hurdle plenary deliberations because of so many parochial concerns known as congressional insertions.”

Budget Assistant Secretary Evelyn Guerrero, however, insists that contrary to popular perception, these insertions do not always dislodge more important projects backed by feasibility studies.

“To avoid wastage, we give priority to ongoing projects,” she says. “If a project is new, then we study the impact of the project and look at the implication on the budget. We are not releasing right away because if we do we would have a ballooning deficit.”

She also says that while lawmakers do identify projects in their districts, these still pass through a “rigid” process of assessment. “By the way,” says Guerrero, “we don’t release the money to politicians. They may have a copy of the SARO (Special Allotment Release Order) or NCA (Notice of Cash Allocation), but they don’t get the money.” The money goes directly to the DPWH as the implementing agency of the projects.

SARO is a document that signals the process of bidding to start, an assurance that funding for the project is available. The NCA guarantees the availability of money, a signal for the construction phase to commence.

Separate from the PDAF and “insertions” in the DPWH infrastructure budget, senators and congressmen also get funding for their pet projects from other agencies such as the departments of transportation and communications, education (including the Commission on Higher Education), agriculture, agrarian reform, and science and technology.

Interestingly, Guerrero says that many of these projects are transferred to DPWH for actual construction, “because it has the manpower needed to do the projects.”

ANTI-INSURGENCY FUND?
In the meantime, Tañada says he talked to his area’s district engineer after PCIJ told him about the many public-works projects undertaken there.

The district engineer, Ronnel Tan, had declined PCIJ’s request for an interview, but according to Tañada, Tan thought the funds used for most of the projects “were anti-insurgency related or part of the so called KALAHI funds for areas identified as ‘NPA-infested.’” (Quezon is known for having areas where the communist New People’s Army has a significant presence.)

Tañada also says that he doesn’t know the contractors who were awarded contracts for the projects in his district. “I don't get involved because that is not part of my work as a legislator,” he says. “I don't know their track records. The DPWH will be in a better position to answer this point.”