DPWH denies canceling flood control projects

(Updated 5:21 p.m.) Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson on Thursday denied that they canceled several flood control projects before Typhoon Pedring ravaged the country late last month. "We did not cancel the projects. Most of them are completed by now so they can't blame the delay as a cause of the floods," Singson said after the Senate finance committee hearing on the proposed 2012 budget of his department. He issued the statement after opposition Rep. Danilo Suarez filed a resolution asking the House of Representatives to investigate the alleged cancellation of 19 flood control projects started by the Arroyo administration. Suarez noted how these projects were supposed to be carried out in Nueva Vizcaya, Bulacan, Pampanga, Zambales, Pampanga and Tarlac — provinces affected last week by Typhoons Pedring and Quiel. "One cannot help but think that if these projects were not capriciously cancelled on the fact that they were initiated by the previous administration, then the recent floodings could have been prevented or mitigated," he said in his House Resolution 1793. But Singson clarified that they only canceled the contracts — and not the projects for the effects of tropical cyclones Pepeng and Ondoy — because these were illegal. "They were all signed and negotiated even before the release of the SARO (special allotment release orders) which means [those were] illegal, so we had to cancel the negotiated contracts," he said. Instead, the DPWH chief said they underwent competitive bidding, saving more than P19 billion. He likewise clarified that there are around 91 projects clustered into 19 contracts, most of which are supposedly finished. "They cannot blame the contracts that we canceled for the flooding," he said. — Kimberly Jane Tan and Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News