Sen. Osmeña: Govt officials pocketed P16B from President's Bridge Program

Former government officials may have pocketed at least P16 billion by padding the cost of projects under the President's Bridge Program during the past administrations, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said Tuesday.

 

In an interview with Senate reporters, Osmeña said his findings showed that former government officials may have pocketed some of the money from 1,589 bridge projects since 1999.

 

"The total cost would be about P100 billion. The patong (padding] was about P26 billion," he said.

 

"So, let's say some of that was partially legitimate... I think 60 percent of the P26 billion was really commission and kickback, so you're talking about P15 billion or P16 billion in commission and kickbacks," he added.

 

The bridge program was conceptualized during the incumbency of then-President Fidel Ramos after a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front was concluded in 1996. 

 

As an Official Development Assistance (ODA) project, the bridge program received grants from foreign aid agencies with which the Ramos administration used to finance 30 to 45 percent of the cost of each bridge. The goal was to build bridges across the country to facilitate transportation by land and promote economic activity.

 

Osmeña had earlier said the grants received by the Ramos administration were legitimate but some contractors were able to get around the project safeguards during the last months of then-President Joseph Estrada's administration.  

 

Two contracts were each processed by the Ramos and Estrada administrations and 14 were under the Arroyo administration, according to the senator from Cebu 

 

Osmeña, however, claimed that then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “misrepresented” the bridge program as an ODA project and alleged that she was guilty of “serial plunder” for overpricing the multi-billion-peso program. 

 

The Arroyo camp has denied the allegations, saying the contracts went through the proper process.

 

Osmeña maintained that former government officials can be held liable for graft.

 

"All the signatories of the contracts – for sure – which means all the secretaries who signed the contracts, whether it was a supply contract or whether it was a financing contract... So, that means secretary of Finance and in some cases secretary of Public Works... in some cases secretary of Agrarian Reform... in other cases Executive Secretary mismo," the senator said on Tuesday.

 

They can be held liable for graft because they put the government at a gross disadvantage, and for giving undue advantage to some suppliers for not conducting public bidding, Osmeña noted, saying "Public bidding is very necessary to make sure that our money is spent wisely."

 

"I can take them to court easily. They have violated already two very key provisions of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act," he added. — VS, GMA News