Former Caloocan City Mayor Rey Malonzo has escalated allegations of corruption in the city, filing a formal complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against Caloocan 3rd District Representative Dean Asistio over P79.2 million in allegedly “ghost” and overpriced infrastructure projects.
Malonzo stated that the anomalies uncovered so far are merely the “tip of the iceberg,” asserting that the scope of the alleged irregularities actually reaches into the billions and spans across other districts.
“Bilyong piso ang halaga nito at hindi lang ito basta sa distrito ni Dean Asistio, sa distrito [rin] ni Malapitan mayroong ding mga nakikita kaming anomalya,” Malonzo said, tagging Caloocan 1st District Representative Oca Malapitan in the controversy.
This is worth billions of pesos and it is not just in the district of Dean Asistio; we are also seeing anomalies in the district of Malapitan.
The complaint details specific multi-million peso projects under Asistio’s jurisdiction, including two allegedly non-existent flood control initiatives valued at nearly ₱29 million, and an ₱11.7-million road development project in Barangay 159.
Furthermore, the former local chief executive flagged the ₱9.7-million rehabilitation of a covered court in Barangay 187 as severely overpriced, noting that standard repairs should have only cost between ₱150,000 and ₱300,000.
Malonzo argued that the project’s budget was intentionally inflated under the guise of new construction.
“Malaki yung pondo na inilagay kasi sinabi nila ‘construction.’ When you say ‘construction,’ bago. Pero rehabilitation lang. Napakalaki kumpara sa construction na price,” he explained.
A large amount of funds was allocated because they called it ‘construction.’ When you say ‘construction,’ it’s new. But it was only rehabilitation. The price is too high compared to actual construction.
Malonzo added that their field verifications revealed several completed infrastructure projects listed on paper were entirely missing on the ground.
“Yun namang iba, mayroong kalye na supposed to be ginawa nila, pero wala. Nakalagay doon na may ginawa sila, pero wala,” he added.
As for the others, there is a street that they were supposed to have built, but there is nothing. It is stated there that they did something, but there is nothing.
Aside from Asistio, the Ombudsman complaint also names Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) District Engineer Ruel Umali, along with executives from six private contracting firms involved in the projects.