by KAROL ILAGAN and MALOU MANGAHAS

By all indications, the explanations given by the five officials seem insufficient, when measured against provisions on "conflict of interest" and divestment of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

AT LEAST four congressmen and a governor have personal and family interests in companies that secured multi-million-peso civil-works contracts over the last seven years, according to the online registry of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

	Citizens may feel that the taxes they pay are working for them, but road projects like this one are also benefiting construction companies linked to some congressmen. [photo by Tita Valderama]

The five elective officials, in reply to PCIJ queries about possible cases of conflict of interest, acknowledge their interest in the companies but also stress that the contracts were awarded before they took their oaths of office.

One says he had divested of his shares in the company, in favor of his brother who is living in the United States. Two others say they have relinquished their role in their companies, but do not exactly say how.

Yet by the letter and spirit of the law, in particular Republic Act No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, the explanation of these officials may not suffice at all. The Code, an anti-graft instrument in truth, prescribes that “a public official or employee shall avoid conflicts of interest at all times.”

The Code states that “conflict of interest” arises “when a public official or employee is a member of a board, an officer, or a substantial stockholder of a private corporation or owner or has a substantial interest in a business, and the interest of such corporation or business, or his rights or duties therein, may be opposed to or affected by the faithful performance of official duty.”

	PREVIOUSLY PART 1 reveals how two sons in Congress of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but also other political allies and some of her political foes, have secured comparatively bigger volumes and values of civil-works contracts.

To cure or prevent conflict-of-interest situations, the Code stipulates that public officials must resort to “divestment,” which it defined as “the transfer of title or disposal of interest in property by voluntarily, completely and actually depriving or dispossessing oneself of his right or title to it in favor of a person or persons other than his spouse and relatives.”

NO BILAS, INSO, BALAE
Under the Code, the term “relatives” refers to “any and all persons related to a public official or employee within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity, including bilas, inso and balae.” Bilas, inso, and balae are Filipino terms for specific relatives-in-law.

No divestment records or deeds of assignment have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) by any of the companies to attest to the divestment supposedly made by three of the five officials: Catanduanes Governor Joseph C. Cua, and Representatives Glenn A. Chong (Biliran) and Aurelio D. Gonzales Jr. (3rd District, Pampanga). (see table)

DTI records show that the businesses of Chong and Cua are still under their names, while Yakal Construction is owned by Rep. Eufrociño Codilla Sr.’s daughter-in-law Violeta T. Codilla.

Rep. Elias C. Bulut Jr. Bulut declared EBJR Construction and Hardware in his 2004 Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SALN), but DTI records show a company with the same name had its registration renewed in February 2006, with one Joel Flores Fernando as owner.

As for ADG Construction, SEC records show and his staff says that Congressman Gonzales still is the company’s current president, even as the SEC had revoked the firm’s registration status.

“We’re not sure as to when the SEC revoked the company’s certificate of registration for its non-submission of the Commission’s reportorial requirements,” wrote Ramon Navarra Jr., Gonzales’s chief of staff. “However, this was only brought to our attention recently, when the Congressman initiated the divestment of his shares of stock in the Company.”

Gonzales is a vice chairman of the House Committee on Public Works and Highways, which also counts Bulut, Chong, and Codilla as members for the majority.

Codilla and Gonzales are affiliated with pro-administration parties Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI), respectively. Bulut is a member of Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), while Chong is with the Liberal Party (LP).

Apparently, the committee has not discussed the Code of Ethics for Public Officials, which is crystal and exact as to when and how such officials should divest from businesses that could expose them to conflicts of interest.

When conflict-of-interest situations arise, the Code says that the official “shall resign from his position in any private business enterprise within thirty (30) days from his assumption of office and/or divest himself of his shareholdings or interest within sixty (60) days from such assumption.”

Rep. Chong explains that the contracts listed under Glejoben Construction and Services were awarded before he became congressman. “I was elected in the May 2007 elections so all those contracts, it cannot give rise to a conflict of interest,” says the congressman, who is on his first term.

A lawyer, Chong argues that there is no prohibition on his part because when he won the elections, he gave up the construction business. “I divested it in accordance with Section 9 of R.A. No. 6713 in favor of my brother (Benjie Chong),” he says. “(E)ven now in my district, wala kaming pinangongontrata na projects under Glejoben and also under my mother’s construction firm (Adelfa and Charlie Enterprises).”

DTI records, however, show that Glejoben is still owned by the congressman, based on the company’s latest renewal of registration on August 28, 2008.

RIVAL'S COMPLAINT?
On October 28, 2008, Naval Councilor Victor Del Rosario filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas, claiming that “Rep. Chong and his family, through Adelfa and Charlie Enterprises, did not divest (of) their interests in the construction business with the aforementioned company.”

Del Rosario’s complaint-affidavit indicated that “it seems that it is now a requirement for these companies undertaking infrastructure projects with the DPWH to rent equipment from A and C Enterprises.”

In response, Chong says that Adelfa and Charlie has only three dump trucks. “There are actually 14 national roads being constructed in Biliran right now — 14 separate sections worth P249 million,” he says. “How can three dump trucks be required to work all those 14 national road projects?”

The congressman says that this is the third case filed against him by his political opponents in Biliran, referring to Councilor del Rosario as an ally of the province’s former representative Gerardo Espina Jr. The complaints are simply “political harassment,” he says.

“This councilor is the one who had been hitting me on radio almost every day,” he says, referring to del Rosario. “What they’re trying to point is that all these companies bidding are all my dummies. Can you imagine me putting up dummy firms for every P200,000 project for all 132 barangays every year? I have more important things in my mind… I cannot spread myself too thinly.”