By Melvin C. Gascon | Kodao Productions
One construction company has cornered the bulk of multimillion-peso flood control projects in Quirino province, raising questions over the concentration of public works contracts in a single firm.
Data from the Sumbong sa Pangulo website shows that A.P.D. Construction, Inc. secured six of seven flood control projects awarded by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Maddela and Aglipay towns.
Records showed that A.P.D. has been dominating all other projects in the province, which has long been run by the Cua political dynasty.
Its incumbent leaders are the husband-and-wife pair of Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua and Rep. Mindy Cua, who both ran unopposed in the 2025 elections.
Contract monopoly
The flood control contracts awarded to A.P.D., worth a combined P219.4 million, account for nearly 82 percent of the total P267.9 million allocated for the province from 2022 to 2025.
These projects include two almost-identical San Pedro River control packages in Maddela, valued at P48.99 million each, awarded only nine days apart in November 2022. Their project titles differed only by the words “upstream” and “downstream.”
Official records show the contract amounts differed by just P2,181, a similarity that analysts say may be indicative of possible project splitting.
Other A.P.D. contracts include flood protection works along the Cagayan and Addalam rivers and a gabion wall in Aglipay town.
According to DPWH records, A.P.D. is owned by Victorino Dy of Cauayan City in Isabela.
‘Rock shed’ contractor
Another strikingly similar but vaguely titled project recorded was awarded to 3K Rock Engineering, which won a P48.5-million San Pedro River project in July 2023.
This is the same firm behind the controversial rock shed along Kennon Road in Benguet that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. previously criticized as “useless.”
In a press release in 2024, the DPWH issued a press release highlighting the completion of the P48.5-million San Pedro River project, citing its role in protecting farmland and 18 barangays in Maddela.
But procurement records suggest inconsistencies in costs.
The DPWH said the 2023 project produced a 340-meter gabion wall, translating to about P142,000 per meter.
By comparison, if the twin 2022 contracts amounting to nearly P98 million covered only 262 meters of river wall, the cost would average P374,000 per meter, more than double the latter project.
Procurement Watch Inc., a governance watchdog, said that the dominance of one contractor and the near-identical contract amounts are “red flags” that merit closer scrutiny by oversight agencies. #
