6 flood contractors in Marcos list had prior spotty records
By Lian Buan | Rappler | August 13, 2025
Six flood control contractors had received bad ratings in previous government projects, Rappler found after analyzing data from Malacañang and ratings from the Constructors’ Performance Evaluation System (CPES).
Using President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Top 15 list of contractors who bagged the biggest amount of flood control projects during his term, we counterchecked with the government-sanctioned CPES and found that the following companies received ratings of “unsatisfactory” or “poor” in previous years.
- Legacy Construction Corporation (No. 1 on the Marcos list)
- EGB Construction Corporation (No. 2)
- Sunwest Inc (No. 8)
- Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp (No. 9)
- L.R. Tiqui Builders Inc (No. 14)
- Road Edge Trading & Development Services (No. 15)
The CPES is a rating system done by procuring entities, or agencies that contracted the project. Under the guidelines of the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), contractors who receive “unsatisfactory” or “poor” ratings “in any of [their] projects shall be blacklisted from participating in any government project.”
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L.R. Tiqui provided Rappler a copy of a 2017 final inspection report which cleared the project, and declared it “free from failures and defects that are traceable to poor workmanship.” It clarified that the project was still ongoing when it got the unsatisfactory rating, which it attributed to right-of-way issues, the company told Rappler in an email on Friday, August 15. The project was terminated in 2016 “with an actual accomplishment of 79.79% of the revised of the contract price.”
The other five contractors received their bad ratings for completed projects. They don’t currently appear on the GPPB’s blacklist. It’s not clear whether they were ever blacklisted, and if they were just delisted after a time. The Philippine Domestic Construction Board (PDCB) told Rappler the procuring entity “has the authority to blacklist contractors for poor performance or unsatisfactory project quality/progress.”
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For a first offense, a contractor can be suspended for a year; a second offense merits two years. “These sanctions are lifted automatically after the penalty period,” said the PCDB in a message to Rappler on Friday, August 15.
Without specifying any contractor, and without specifying that she was referring to the Top 15, the presidential spokesperson said that the newly-launched investigation will cover previously blacklisted contractors.
“Mayroon nga tayong nakita. May mga dati nang blacklist, kasama sa blacklist pero nag-iba ng pangalan. Pero ngayon parang namamayagpag pa rin,” said Press Undersecretary Claire Castro.
(We have seen that some were blacklisted before, or were included in the blacklist, but changed their names. But they’re still thriving.)
This investigation, and the launch of a crowdsourcing website, is part of Marcos’ midterm promise to hold accountable those — from both the private sector and the government — who allegedly corrupted the projects at the expense of Filipinos who now suffer from heavy flooding.
We note that these contractors have also received many satisfactory ratings in their other projects from then to now.
‘Bad’ ratings
Legacy Construction Corporation, the top flood control project contractor, is owned by the Abelido family of Pasig. Its major shareholder and president is Alex Abelido, according to the company’s latest general information sheet.
Legacy received a poor rating for its road widening project in Capiz in 2020. Its flood-related projects, such as a joint venture revetment construction work in Antique, received an unsatisfactory rating also in 2020. That year, Legacy also got an unsatisfactory rating in its drainage project in Baguio City. In 2019, its road widening project in Bacolod was also rated unsatisfactory.
Road Edge Trading and Development Services, which is Number 15 on Marcos’ list, received the most number of bad ratings, next to Legacy. It got a bad rating for a bridge project in Bukidnon in 2017, which is a joint venture. It also received unsatisfactory ratings in 2018 for a road maintenance project and a separate road improvement project in Surigao City.
Road Edge does not appear in the current database of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which keeps records of all duly-registered companies in the Philippines. A review of past government contracts, however, showed that Road Edge might be the same as R26 Construction Incorporated. They share the same office address in Marikina, and have the same owner — Ryan Willie Uy, who is R26’s current president. Uy shares ownership of R26 with other family members.
EGB Construction Corporation is owned by Erni Baggao of Isabela, who is also the acting general manager of Isabela Electric Cooperative II or ISELCOII, which provides electricity in the northern half of Isabela.
In 2020, EGB’s road and drainage upgrade in Baguio City was rated poor.
Legacy, Road Edge, and EGB had “projects in almost all regions nationwide” according to Marcos, prompting another line of review in the investigation. The President, a former governor of Ilocos Norte, said infrastructure projects are usually awarded to local contractors for easier dealings.
Hi-Tone Construction and Development Corporation, which is owned by Edgar Acosta of Legazpi City, had an “unsatisfactory” wharf upgrade project at the Legazpi Port in 2022. In 2020, its road construction project in Romblon also received a poor rating.
L.R. Tiqui Builders received an unsatisfactory rating for its road construction project in San Mateo, Rizal, in 2018. It is owned by the Tiqui family of Bulacan with Luisito Tiqui as president.
Sunwest Inccorporated, which belongs to a conglomerate of the Martin Romualdez-allied Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co, received an unsatisfactory rating for its wharf upgrading project in Tabaco, Albay, in 2022.
Source: Rappler
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