00:00A report by state auditors says firms with questionable capacity bagged thousands of
00:05public works contracts. The Commission on Audit, or COA, says the Department of Public Works and
00:10Highways, or DPWH, awarded around 11,000 projects worth more than 459 billion pesos to contractors
00:17with incomplete statements of ongoing contracts in 2024 and 2025. This made the computation of
00:23their net financial contracting capacity, or NFCC, inaccurate. The NFCC is used to determine
00:29whether a contractor has the financial capacity to take on a project and qualify for bidding.
00:34The COA says contractors failed to disclose projects with other government agencies,
00:38local government units, government-owned or controlled corporations, and private entities.
00:43It also found that NFCC computations were not updated in subsequent bids.
00:48The DPWH acknowledged the absence of a systematic or independent mechanism for cross-checking
00:53contractors' commitments versus actual ongoing projects. The Ilocos region, the bailiwick of
00:58President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., recorded the highest number of contracts awarded to bidders
01:02with deficient disclosures at 1,893. It was followed by Northern Mindanao with 1,328 contracts,
01:10Calabarzon with 1,289, Cagayan Valley with 1,213, and Central Luzon with 1,134.
01:17In terms of total contract value, however, Mimaropa topped the list with more than 65 billion pesos
01:22in projects awarded to bidders with questionable NFCC computations.
