DPWH suspends payments to Haresco's firm as it conducts own probe
on multi-billion peso GMA bridges program

Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson has ordered the suspension of all payments to a firm linked to Ang Kasangga Partylist Rep. Teodorico Haresco as the DPWH initiated its own probe into the highly anomalous President's Bridges Program of the Arroyo administration.

Singson revealed this during a public hearing on Tuesday by the powerful Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which is investigating the overpriced acquisition of steel bridges by the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The previous administration shelled out a whooping P11 billion for its bridges project.

The probe stemmed from a privilege speech delivered by Sen. Serge Osmeña, who described the entire bridge scam as a "devilishly brilliant symphony of fraud that brought 14 or more contracts to fruition without anybody sitting up and taking notice. It was beautifully composed, it was wonderfully orchestrated and ingeniously conducted."

During the hearing, Singson said he has ordered an internal probe on the bridge program because of "out-of-the-ordinary" procedures that the DPWH adopted to fast track such multi-billion peso infrastructure projects.

"They have their own accounting and bookkeeping methods," Singson told the committee.

And as the probe is going on, Singson told senators that he has suspended all payments to Winace Holdings Inc., a local supplier which has been receiving "a fixed percentage" for every billing that a foreign bridge supplier submits to the DPWH.

Winace is owned by Haresco, a former Palace official who boasted in his blog (http://teodoricoharescojr.blogspot.com) that he "is responsible for conceptualizing and bringing to fruition the Philippine's President's Bridge Program (PBP)."

Haresco later became the business development director for Asia-Pacific of Mabey & Johnson, a bridge and engineering company based in the United Kingdom which was able to get P28.94 billion worth of steel bridge contracts in the years 2000, 2002, and 2006.

When the British firm was being investigated for corrupt practices in London, Haresco apparently switched sides, and became the business partner and country representative of Eiffel-Matiere, a Paris-based bridge and engineering company that had cornered some P40 billion worth of bridge projects, all in 2008.

While he represented these companies, both foreign suppliers tapped the local services of Winace Holdings (Phils.) Inc.

Also during the hearing, the Commission on Audit (COA) revealed that the DPWH has not yet submitted any document pertaining to the bridge program despite its constant requests.

COA supervising officer Avenida Torres told senators earlier that "direct payments since 2008 with (bridge supplier) Matiere were not entered into the books."

"We don't have it," said Torres, who had been requesting the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to furnish COA with such documents.