Ex-DPWH chief: No P8.7B released for General Santos RROW

MANILA, Philippines — Rogelio Singson, former Public Works and Highways secretary, on Monday disputed claims by the Justice department that he was involved in a supposed scam on road right-of-way payments.

 

Singson disputed Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre's claim that P8.7 billion pesos was paid out for spurious RROW claims in General Santos City, adding the government only paid out around P2.2 billion from 2010 to 2016 for all of Region 12.

 

"Since I took over in July 2010, we strictly followed the prescribed procedure for validation and valuation of right-of-way claims," Singson said at a hearing by the Senate Public Works committee. He said the payments were based on either the land valuation by the Bureau of Internal Revenue or by the local government unit, whichever was lower.

 

He said that the DPWH only paid for claims that were based on titles that had been verified and validate by the Land Registration Authority.

 

He stressed that he did not "profit or gain anything" from any of the claims. "There is no P8.7 billion paid in General Santos. I was not a corrupt secretary and definitely not a plunderer," he said.

 

Singson also said that letters that a Department of Justice witness claims is proof of the involvement of former President Benigno Aquino III's relatives in the scam are "fake and spurious letters." 

 

Eldon Cruz's son Jiggy had earlier disputed the authenticity of the supposed letters, saying the signatures on them were different from the actual signature of Aquino's brother-in-law.

 

"That’s not his (Eldon’s) signature. It is not even remotely close to it. We live in a time of lies and fake news and I can’t believe it’s reached this point," the younger Cruz said in late November.

 

"I myself verified these letters," Singson said on Monday.

 

DOJ witness Roberto Catapang Jr. had earlier implicated Singson, Cruz and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad in the supposed scam.

 

He said that Cruz's name had been used by the syndicate in the scam, which allegedly involves collecting RROW payments intended for actual claimants whose properties would be affected by a national highway project in General Santos City.

 

"Actually, (Cruz’s involvement) is known in the DPWH. The people in central (office) know that. They had been talking about it during the time of president Aquino," Catapang said in a DOJ press conference.

 

Catapang, as part of his supposed proof, had submitted a letter attributed to Cruz urging Singson to endorse the claims to the Budget department for payment.