Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar “Egay” Erice on Saturday, October 18, called on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to “purge” unqualified and fly-by-night contractors from its project roster.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on DZRH’s Special on Saturday, Erice said the practice of lending construction licenses has allowed corruption and poor-quality infrastructure to persist for years.
Erice said the DPWH must conduct a system-wide cleanup to restore public trust and improve the quality of government-funded projects.
“Dapat i-purge nila ’yung mga contractors,” he said. “Kasi marami diyan fly-by-night. Marami diyan gaya ni Diskaya, nagpapahiram lang naman ng lisensya. Hindi naman talaga gumagawa.”
Erice questioned how certain contractors managed to handle massive projects despite lacking the required equipment and technical capacity.
He also pointed out that under procurement law, each project must have specific, verifiable equipment and technical staff — conditions that are often circumvented through falsified documents or shared assets.
“Remember, sa procurement law, bawat proyekto may specific na equipment, owned and rent, na specific for that project,” he said. “Hindi ’yung isang truck para sa lahat.”
To prevent such abuse, Erice proposed the mandatory registration of construction equipment to make it traceable and tax-accountable.
“Kung registered na ’yan na parang kotse, hindi na ’yan pwedeng magpalit-palitan,” he said. “Mahihirapan na sila. Dahil kada palit nila, magbabayad sila ng tax.”
He also urged stricter enforcement of personnel qualifications for engineering and technical staff.
“’Di ba may requirement for engineers? Hindi siguro na-check. Baka ’yung mga engineers na nakalagay dito ng kontratista, eh may nakalagay din sa ibang kontratista,” he said.
Erice also emphasized that DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon’s leadership should focus on quality control rather than across-the-board budget cuts, noting that good contractors who deliver on time should even be rewarded.
“Ang importante, ’yung quality control sa mga proyekto ng DPWH,” he said. “Kung maaari, ’yung mga magpe-perform ng maganda, bibigyan pa nga ng incentive na karagdagan.”
