13 DPWH-Soccsksargen execs, private individuals face graft, malversation cases over ‘road right of way scam’

MANILA (UPDATED) – The Office of the Ombudsman formally filed graft and malversation charges against six Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Soccsksargen officials and seven private individuals on Tuesday over an alleged scam on the road right of way in General Santos City amounting to P491 million.

Ombudsman personnel wheeled in about two dozens of trolleys containing mounds of documents for the filing of 18 counts of graft and 18 counts of malversation charges for each accused at the anti-graft court.

The cases were then raffled off at 2 p.m.

The following divisions received:

First Division – 3 graft cases, 2 malversation cases

Second Division – 2 graft cases, 3 malversation cases

Third Division – 3 graft cases, 2 malversation cases

Fourth Division – 2 graft cases, 3 malversation cases

Fifth Division – 3 graft cases, 2 malversation cases

Sixth Division – 2 graft cases, 4 malversation cases

Seventh Division – 3 graft cases, 2 malversation cases

The Office of the Ombudsman earlier said the former DPWH personnel facing charges are Subair Diron, Laureano Suan Jr., Tomas Rodriguez, David Padlan, Paisal Padate, and Ansare Busran.

The private individuals who were charged are Wilma Mamburam, Nelson Ti, Evelyn Paloso, Rudy Ong, Marisa Seguirre, William Uy, and Paul Michael Bagio.

The Ombudsman previously said the charges arose from three reports of the National Bureau of Investigation in 2018 and 2019, which involved the payment of right of way for 18 parcels of land that were purportedly affected by the Digos-Makar National Road construction.

Witness Roberto Catapang had confessed his involvement in a syndicate, which allegedly collected money from the government supposedly for payments for the acquisition by fabricating and submitting falsified documents, in collusion with the respondent public officers.

DPWH-Soccsksargen’s technical working group subsequently approved the disbursement of P491 million to claimants that were then discovered to have presented falsified documents.

Investigators likewise found supposed unlawful use of a 2009 appraisal value worth P3,500 per square meter to come up with the compensation for properties taken by the government in the early 1990s, leading to ballooning right-of-way claims.