MANILA, Philippines — Stressing that he was not a corrupt public official, former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) chief Rogelio Singson on Monday denied that the Aquino administration paid P8.7 billion to claimants who used fake land titles to get compensation for the government’s expropriation of their properties for road right-of-way projects in General Santos City.
Singson also said the letters purportedly from former President Benigno Aquino III’s brother-in-law Eldon Cruz supposedly following up on these compensation claims were “fake and spurious” because the former DPWH secretary himself verified them.
Singson was among the resource persons during Monday’s Senate Committee on Public Work’s hearing into the alleged road right-of-way scam being run by a supposed criminal syndicate. Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and Roberto Catapang, Jr., the supposed fraud witness, were also present.
In a speech during the hearing, Aguirre accused Singson of approving the fake claims. The DOJ chief also blamed Department of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad for allegedly approving the release of the payments for the claims upon Singson’s request.
‘I was not a corrupt secretary and definitely not a plunderer’
But Singson stressed during the hearing that, “I did not profit or gain anything from any of these land claims as accused by Secretary Aguirre. There is no P8.7 billion paid in General Santos. I was not a corrupt secretary, and definitely not a plunderer.”
He explained that the road projects of the DPWH in General Santos, which were the subject of a complaint, dated back to the 1990s. Meanwhile, land titles shown by Catapang date back to 2003. Singson added that most of the claims for payment were filed from 2007 and 2009, before he took over as DPWH Secretary.
From July 2010 to June 30, 2016, the total amount released to Region 12 – including General Santos – for land claims amounted to over P2 billion, and not P8.7 billion, according to Singson.
He further explained that in giving just compensation, the DPWH either used the certified Bureau of Internal Revenue zonal value, or that of the provincial/city appraisal committee. The DPWH even had to get a “waiver of rights” for many of the claimants to accept a lower amount than what was originally determined prior to Singson’s assumption of the post.
Not just GenSan
Moreover, Singson pointed out that the validated outstanding right-of-way claims as of July 13, 2011 were worth P8.729 billion — covering 1,288 claimants nationwide, and not just General Santos.
Singson added that the DPWH suspended payments in Region 12 in 2012 until all land claims were again revalidated and reverified with the Land Registration Authority (LRA)-General Santos and central offices.
The DPWH even asked the Commission on Audit to do a financial and legal audit of right-of-way claims in Region 12. No payments were made in 2012; DPWH only resumed doing so March 2013 after it was satisfied with the validity and authenticity of titles from the LRA.
“Wala po kaming kinalaman do’n sa lakaran, do’n sa mga sindikatong sinasabi for them to produce the title [We have nothing to do with the alleged fixing or with the syndicates being talked about for them to produce the title],” Singson said.
He also noted that since he took over the DPWH, they “strictly followed” the procedure for validation and valuation of right-of-way claims as contained in Department Order 34, series of 2007.
Singson explained that process would begin at the regional infrastructure right-of-way committees and technical working groups created to validate and valuate the land that would be affected by government infrastructure. The central infrastructure right-of-way committee would then review the claim for the completeness of documents.