Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Roberto Bernardo told senators that nearly all infrastructure bidding in the agency is rigged, pointing to a long-running system of collusion between lawmakers and local officials.
At a Senate hearing, Bernardo accused Sen. Chiz Escudero and former senator Nancy Binay of being involved in questionable dealings, saying corruption takes root even before the national budget is finalized. According to him, lawmakers and DPWH officials draw up project lists for insertion into the budget, with contractors at times proposing projects themselves.
He explained that projects are deliberately divided into smaller phases to reduce scrutiny. “Sa pananaw ko po, almost 100%,” Bernardo admitted when asked by Sen. Bam Aquino how much of the bidding process was manipulated.
Bernardo revealed that the DPWH budget would often be padded in the House version of the General Appropriations Bill, sometimes through “errata” that replaced figures with higher allocations. Records from 2022 to 2025 showed that Congress repeatedly raised DPWH’s budget beyond what the agency originally requested.
He also said “early bidding” was standard practice, with about 80% of the DPWH’s budget already bid out by January, even before the president signed the budget into law in December. For projects worth P150 million and below, district engineering offices had full discretion to bid and award contracts, further fueling the practice of splitting projects.
To curb such schemes, Bernardo proposed regionalizing the bidding process. However, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan questioned his credibility, saying Bernardo himself had been accused of collecting kickbacks from the central office. “Bakit niyo babantayan yung nasa baba?” Pangilinan asked.
Other names surfaced in the hearing, including Sens. Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada, and Bong Revilla, as well as House members Rep. Zaldy Co and Speaker Martin Romualdez. All those implicated have denied any role in the alleged corruption.
