MANILA, Philippines – For some time now, the firm E. Gardiola Construction and a district office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Davao City have been at the center of repeated audit alarms. The latest is about a P19.14-million road project in 2010, which state auditors said was overpriced and riddled with irregularities. 

This is the seventh such project involving the contractor flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA), all of which have been transmitted to the Office of the Ombudsman for criminal investigation. The pattern raised questions about oversight, accountability, and the handling of public funds in Davao, Mindanao’s most developed city.

The firm is registered to the brother of Construction Workers Solidarity (CWS) Representative Edwin Gardiola.

The COA en banc, in a 16-page decision released Wednesday, March 11, upheld a 2018 Notice of Disallowance against the rehabilitation and improvement along the old circumferential road to El Rio junction on the Davao City diversion road because it was found to be massively overpriced. 

The COA said the project, undertaken in 2010, exceeded the DPWH’s allowable cost of P7.14 million by 167.95%, an overprice of nearly P12 million. 

The Commission held the following responsible for the project’s alleged irregularities:

• Lorna Ricardo, DPWH-Davao district engineer
• Milagros delos Reyes, assistant district engineer
• Dwight Vincent Fernandez, engineer
• Eduardo Villar, engineer
• Lilibeth Sarmiento, engineer
• Emilio Sucaldito, estimating committee head
• William Paglinawan, construction and maintenance foreman
• Rolly Tulayba, laboratory technician
• E. Gardiola Construction, contractor

An audit team, which looked into the 2010 Davao road project, exposed alleged serious lapses in both planning and construction. They alleged that the approved and as-built plans ignored DPWH standards, leaving out critical measurements and landmarks, and inspections found rusted rails, bolts, nuts, and washers, while road signs and pavement studs fell short of minimum quality requirements.

Those flagged by the COA had asked for a review, claiming they were denied due process because the special audit report was released only after the Notice of Disallowance and no exit conference was held.

The COA en banc said the group was given a copy of the audit, allowed to appeal the notice and challenge the COA-Region XI ruling through a petition for review.

“This Commission sustains the audit finding of price excessiveness, as this was supported by actual canvass sheets/price quotations. Thus, this Commission sustains the disallowance in the reduced amount of P10,803,148.50,” it ruled. – Rappler.com