Iba, Zambales – Zambales Provincial Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. halted the continuation of work for three major infrastructure projects in the province being undertaken by a construction company allegedly involved in the controversial flood control project issues.
Engineer Domingo Mariano, consultant for provincial engineering and infrastructure development said that contracts under St. Gerrard Construction were immediately terminated on September 5, 2025 following cancellation of its accreditation license by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) on September 3, 2025.
“When PCAB declared cancellation of its license, right there and then, Governor Ebdane issued a memorandum to the Bids and Awards Committee for the termination and cancellation of contracts under the Discaya-owned St. Gerrard Construction,” Mariano said.
These projects include the construction of the new provincial capitol on a 3,082.50 square meters floor area amounting P499.6 million and the sports complex track and football stadium with a project cost amounting P499,000,600 and has a new field area covering 14,643.13 square meters.
Mariano said the provincial capitol and sport complex projects were awarded to St. Gerrard Construction, while another project, the President Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Hospital amounting P399,773,774.75 with a total floor area of 3,732.88 square meter, was awarded to Hi-Tone Construction and Development Corporation, one of the contractors also under investigation in the anomalous flood control projects.
The provincial capitol and provincial hospital target completion by year 2027, while the sports complex targets completion by next year in preparation for the Palarong Pambansa in 2027, Mariano said.
Mariano said the remaining balance of the workload will either be bid out or taken over by the engineers of the provincial administration.
“To continue these projects, a technical working group will submit an evaluation report based on what has been accomplished to the Commission on Audit (CoA), who will determine the extent of completed works. The report will serve as the baseline for the next work to be taken by the new contractor,” he added.
“As of now, positive slippage naman tayo dito, the work is aboveboard and ahead of completion. Nagkaroon lamang ng controversy sa national when the accreditation of St. Gerrard was cancelled,” Mariano said. (Malou Dungog)
