Ombudsman charges 6 DPWH personnel over P491-M ‘road right of way’ scam

The Office of the Ombudsman. Quezon City. February 19, 2020. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News MANILA — The Office of the Ombudsman has charged six personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) – Soccsksargen over their alleged involvement in the “Road Right of Way” scam amounting to P491 million in General Santos City.

Soccsksargen includes the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, and General Santos City.

In a statement on Sunday, the Ombudsman said it filed before the Sandiganbayan 18 informations for malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents and another 18 informations for graft.

Among the personnel charged were former Regional Director Subair Diron and former Assistant Regional Director Laureano Suan Jr. Seven private individuals supposedly involved were also facing the cases.

The charges, the Ombudsman said, emanated from three reports that the National Bureau of Investigation submitted in 2018 and 2019.

“[The reports] involved the payment of right of way for 18 parcels of land which were allegedly affected by the construction of the Digos-Makar National Road in Lagao, General Santos City,” the office stated.

Witness Roberto Catapang Jr., through affidavits, has admitted his participation in a syndicate which, “in collusion with respondent public officers, collected money from the government purportedly as payments for the acquisitions, by fabricating and submitting fake documents.”

The DPWH-Soccsksargen technical working group then greenlighted the release of P491.9 million to claimants that were subsequently found to have shown falsified documents.

The Ombudsman said investigators likewise discovered purported unlawful use of a 2009 appraisal value of P3,500 per square meter “to determine compensation for properties taken by the government in the early 1990s, resulting in inflated right-of-way claims.”

A separate Ombudsman administrative decision directed the dismissal of DPWH-Soccsksargen Legal Officer Ansare Busran from government service.