Witness: Sunwest workers installed sheet piles at night in P289-M Mindoro project

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Employees of contractor Sunwest Construction installed steel sheet piles (SSPs) at night at a P289-million flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, a prosecution witness told the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday.

Barangay Tagumpay chairperson Nestor Asi testified during the hearing of the malversation case against former House appropriations panel chairperson and former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region 4B officials over the alleged substandard flood control project.

The case stemmed from allegations that the P289-million project was substandard, with steel sheet piles measuring only three meters instead of the required 12 meters.

The Office of the Ombudsman charged Co and several DPWH officials with malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents, alleging that irregularities in the project's implementation and documentation allowed the release of government funds despite deficiencies in construction.

Asi said he had visited the project site several times and had seen Sunwest workers installing the SSPs at around 7 p.m.

He also told the anti-graft court that no DPWH officials were present during the nighttime operations and that the workers would stop working whenever they spotted him observing the site.

Asked by the defense if he believed the workers were deliberately installing the SSPs at night, Asi answered in the affirmative.

Another prosecution witness, Naujan Construction and Maintenance foreman Abraham Panaligan, corroborated Asi's account.

Panaligan said he and Asi had met with Sunwest's project engineer to clarify the installation of the sheet piles.

According to Panaligan, Sunwest explained that the three-meter SSPs were intended only for the cofferdam, a temporary watertight enclosure used during construction.— MCG, GMA News

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