By Melvin Gascon | Kodao Productions
A flood-control project in the remote town of Dinapigue in Isabela, awarded to Alpha & Omega General Contractor and Development Corp., for exactly P49,000,000, has emerged as a case study in potential procurement anomalies after a review of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) records.
The project was reported as completed as of Sept. 18, 2023.
The award, which carries a cleanly rounded price tag without a single centavo, is one of dozens of contracts in the province showing the same unusual pattern: big-ticket projects repeatedly priced at identical round figures such as P96,500,000 and P49,000,000, according to data obtained from the Sumbong sa Pangulo website.
Rounded bids in far-flung towns
The project raises red flags of collusion involving Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects, as license renting is prohibited by the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184) and rules of the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB).
In an Aug. 20 privilege speech, Sen. Panfilo Lacson disclosed cases where Class AAA or AA contractors enter into “joint ventures” or “subcontracting” chains in remote towns, while the “on-paper” contractor does not deploy equipment on site.
Under this scheme, a favored company (that does not have the right license to qualify for government bidding) does not bring its workers, engineers, or equipment to the project site, usually ending up as a “ghost project.”
Dinapigue is a coastal town on the Pacific side of the Sierra Madre, about 420 km from Manila accessible only by rough mountain roads.
For a Manila-based contractor like Alpha & Omega, mobilizing heavy equipment, materials, and crews to Ayod is logistically costly and complicated, according to sources.
The Alpha & Omega project, listed as the “Ayod Flood Control Structure” in Dinapigue, is far from an isolated case.
The same P49 million amount recurs in other entries in the province, while P96.5 million appears across multiple sites in towns such as Jones, San Agustin, and Palanan.
Procurement specialists note that while some uniformity is possible under cost ceilings, identical awards across widely varying locations, especially in “geographically isolated” and “access-challenged” areas are classic red flags of template pricing, possible padding, or batch awards.
Few contractors dominate awards
The “Sumbong sa Pangulo” data of flood control projects in Isabela also shows a concentration of contracts among a handful of firms.
Dalcon Construction was repeatedly awarded projects pegged at P96.5 million, often in clusters across Dinapigue, Jones, and San Agustin.
EGB Construction Corp., owned by Erni Baggao, a contractor and former PCAB director, appears as a joint venture partner in several Palanan projects.
EGB likewise appears multiple times in joint ventures with firms like Camberwell Construction and Arvea’s Construction, suggesting a pattern of firms rotating bids or sharing awards.
Conflict-of-interest concerns
A total of 36 flood control projects are likewise listed to have been awarded to Dragon Twelve Builders and Construction Supply, owned by Jonathan Diaz, brother of Ilagan City Mayor Josemarie “Jay” Diaz.
Mayor Diaz has denied having a hand in the selection of contractors for DPWH projects in his city.
The presence of Alpha & Omega, Dalcon, EGB, and their recurring round-number contracts now raises fresh questions about capacity, competition, and oversight in Isabela’s infrastructure spending.
Why the patterns matter
Experts say that the combination of repeated rounded figures, concentration among a few contractors, and the awarding of multiple simultaneous contracts in remote towns merits scrutiny by the Commission on Audit (COA) and civil society watchdogs.
“Rounded-off numbers make it harder to trace real material costs and easier to pad contracts,” a procurement analyst said.
“When you see the same numbers across different towns and the same contractors winning, that’s a warning sign of bid rigging or collusion,” the source added.
