Ombudsman orders probe into DPWH fire

MANILA, Philippines —  Could the fire yesterday at a Department of Public Works and Highways office in Quezon City be a case of arson?

This is what Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla intends to find out, as he asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to look into the matter.

“I asked the NBI to go there. I also asked my brother to have the BFP look at the arson angle, so that we can know if there was an attempt at cover-up,” Remulla said in Filipino, referring to his brother Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, during an interview with The STAR’s “Truth on the Line” yesterday.

The BFP is under the supervision of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The fire hit the DPWH-Bureau of Research and Standards (BRS) building located along NIA Road in Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City past noon yesterday. The fire reached the third alarm before it was declared under control at 1:34 p.m.

The incident happened amid ongoing investigations on infrastructure projects, including the alleged ghost and substandard flood control projects implemented by the DPWH.

Remulla gave assurance that the documents needed by the ombudsman in connection with the ongoing investigation were not affected by the fire.

“At least the documents that we need [or] that we have to study were not stored there in the Quezon City office,” Remulla said.

Suspicious links?

As it turns out, the DPWH-BRS building that burned used to be the office of the ex-wife of sacked Bulacan assistant district engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez – engineer Mel Clarisse Santo Domingo, before she abruptly resigned from the agency last Sept. 22.

Santo Domingo’s last post at the DPWH was director of the DPWH BRS Technical Services Division. She had just been appointed to the key post last Aug. 11.

DPWH sources earlier said that her appointment had been one of the last acts attributed to former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo before retiring last Aug. 15.

Aftermath

Two people sustained minor injuries during the fire – a fire volunteer and a DPWH personnel – who both sustained lacerations on their finger, Fire Senior Insp. Kristen Angelic Brigola, chief of the Public Information Section of the Quezon City Fire District told “Storycon” on One News yesterday.

She said the fire was situated in a portion of the building’s third floor, where the DPWH BRS is located.

Brigola said the incident is still under investigation, but they are looking at possible electrical causes.

The DPWH, for its part, assured the public that no documents related to the ongoing investigation into the flood control anomalies were in the BRS building.

“The DPWH BRS is responsible for the conduct of research, studies, pilot testing and formulation of policies for government infrastructure projects,” the agency said in a statement.

“Initial findings indicate that the fire originated from a computer unit inside the Materials Testing Division that reportedly exploded. No employees were harmed during the incident,” the DPWH earlier said.

“An investigation team to assess the fire incident has been deployed and is currently conducting a thorough assessment to determine the full extent of the damage and to prevent similar incidents in the future. Further updates will be provided once additional information becomes available,” it added.

Secure documents

The Commission on Audit (COA) has been advised to protect its documents against arson following the DPWH fire.

“I told him that we need to secure all the records of COA because as our investigation before with the ombudsman, there’s a tendency for criminals to burn down the office –which happened in the Cebu scandal when they burned down the entire treasury building in the 1980s,” Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) chairman Andres Reyes Jr. told senators during a justice committee hearing.

Reyes raised the possibility of losing documents that could prove the alleged one percent share received by the DPWH BRS from corruption schemes, citing a testimony given by Hernandez before the ICI.

“With due respect to that office, as per testimony of witness Brice Hernandez, there is one percent for the testing office of that DPWH. Their voucher is one percent,” Reyes told the committee.

Justice committee chair Sen. Francis Pangilinan raised concerns whether documents that could corroborate Hernandez’s testimony have been lost in the fire.

Former DPWH secretary and current ICI member Rogelio Singson said that, if he was not mistaken, the fire may have involved one of the department’s regional offices.

“I’m not sure but I know there are one or two offices along that area… no, so I hope it’s not arson,” Singson said.

DPWH Assistant Secretary Melody Villar, however, clarified that the affected site belonged to the department’s Region 4-B office.

“This is actually the Region 4-B office of the DPWH. This is the site for testing materials of the DPWH – supplies like cement, steel, this is where they are tested. So we are looking into it already, but this is the testing site,” she said.

She said there are documents stored in the building, with most of them backed up in the Central Office’s database.

New whistleblower?

According to Remulla, a former congressman from Quezon City is willing to divulge everything he knows about the flood control scam, including several personalities involved.

At a press briefing, Remulla told reporters he received a call from a friend early morning yesterday that a former lawmaker wanted to testify in the ombudsman’s ongoing investigation on the flood control anomalies.

“So, we’ll wait (for him). I will work on that,” Remulla said in English and Filipino.

Asked to expound on what the former congressman could possibly mean by his intention to “tell all,” Remulla said: “His involvement in everything that is happening, how the scheme works. He will tell everything.”

“He will pinpoint (individuals). Because this congressman is no longer incumbent,” Remulla said.

Discrepancies

Meanwhile, Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Leviste said that allocations in the proposed 2026 budget of the DPWH did not correspond to population.

Leviste said he analyzed the projects proposed by the DPWH for 2026, finding out that Region VI (Western Visayas), for example, which has a population of 4.86 million, was allocated a budget of P16.37 billion, while the Cordillera Administrative Region, which has a population of 1.81 million, was allocated a larger budget of P17 billion.

He also cited how the country’s most populous regions – Region 3 (Central Luzon), Region 4A (Southern Luzon), NCR and Pangasinan make up almost 41 percent of the country’s population and 60 percent of the economy, but only receive about 25 percent of the DPWH budget.

“Given the smaller DPWH budget for certain regions compared to their much bigger contribution to national taxes, they would be better off if the DPWH budget were instead given to local governments equitably through the National Tax Allotment, which is based on a formula 50 percent population, 25 percent land area and 25 percent equal sharing,” Leviste said in a statement. – Emmanuel Tupas, Janvic Mateo, Rainier Allan Ronda, Neil Jayson Servallos, Jose Rodel Clapano