House leader hits ‘flying backhoe’ for 5 Bicol projects

MANILA, Philippines —  A single backhoe has been used simultaneously in implementing flood control projects in five different areas in Bicol in one day by a construction firm tagged in the multibillion-peso scam.

“We now have a flying backhoe,” House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the discovery made by a research team of House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. on irregularities surrounding the flood control projects in Sorsogon. 

During the Jan. 3 hearing in Naga City, Andaya said a single backhoe owned by CT Leoncio Construction had been simultaneously used in projects in five places on the same day. 

The company, owned by 70-year-old Consolacion Tubuhan Leoncio of Sta. Maria, Bulacan, supposedly cornered billions worth of government contracts.

“In May 2018,  the location of this backhoe was in Bulacan. What is strange though is that in five projects, this was also the backhoe used at the same time on the same day in different locations,” Andaya, who chairs the House rules committee, said in Filipino.

This prompted Suarez, a contractor before he joined politics, to ask Leoncio if her company is equipped with a “heavy lifter.” 

“In the US, they have what they call heavy lifter. This is a helicopter that can lift a backhoe and bring it to places where it is needed,” he said.

Leoncio, who had entered into a joint venture with Aremar Construction Co. owned by the in-laws of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno’s daughter Charlotte Justine for the implementation of infrastructure projects in Sorsogon, admitted that they also rent equipment when needed.

Andaya said Aremar, whose owners are the Hamor family of Sorsogon Vice Gov. Esther and Casiguran Mayor Edwin Hamor, the in-laws of Diokno, has been allegedly using CT Leoncio as a dummy to bag government projects.

“It seems like the contractor CT Leoncio is lending its license. The real owner is Aremar,” Andaya said in Filipino.

He showed bank deposit slips which showed that Aremar allegedly received more than P70 million for government contracts awarded to other contractors.