The Commission on Audit has flagged another overpriced infrastructure project in Davao City, the seventh such finding involving contractor E. Gardiola Construction, and referred the case to the Office of the Ombudsman for criminal investigation—adding to mounting scrutiny of procurement practices in the Mindanao region.
According to the COA report, the road project showed significant cost irregularities, though specific details on the overpricing amount and project scope were not immediately disclosed. The audit finding follows a pattern: all seven flagged projects involved the same contractor and the same implementing agency, the Department of Public Works and Highways Davao regional office.
For governance advocates in the Philippines, the repeated findings point to systemic issues rather than isolated incidents. When the same contractor appears in multiple overpricing cases, when the same government office awards those contracts, and when the pattern persists across years, it suggests weak oversight, inadequate procurement controls, or worse—collusion.
Infrastructure corruption is an entrenched problem across Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has prosecuted dozens of regional officials for kickbacks on road and bridge projects. In Malaysia, the 1MDB scandal revealed how infrastructure projects could be inflated to generate slush funds. In Vietnam, multiple transport ministry officials have been imprisoned for embezzlement linked to highway construction.
The Philippines is no exception. A 2023 study by Transparency International found that construction and public works ranked among the sectors most vulnerable to corruption in the country. Common schemes include bid-rigging, where contractors coordinate to ensure a preferred company wins; specification manipulation, where project requirements are tailored to favor certain bidders; and quantity inflation, where contractors bill for more materials or work than actually delivered.
