Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte and Benguet Rep. Eric Go Yap are reportedly behind the overpriced ₱36-billion rock netting project in Benguet carried out during the Duterte administration.
This was revealed by Vera Files columnist Antonio Montalvan II, who also alleged that the two lawmakers’ participation in the racket was known to Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
In his October 15 column, Montalvan said Magalong had privately told former senator Antonio Trillanes IV back in 2022 about the alleged involvement of Duterte and Yap in the overpriced project.
According to Montalvan, Magalong’s silence since then makes him complicit.
“Magalong has to pay a certain price. Because it has taken him three years now of concealing those names, it will expose him as a Duterte protector,” Montalvan wrote. “Once we know who these anomaly managers were, it will definitively define Magalong as no doubt a Duterte protector. Magalong is actually doomed.”
Yap chaired the powerful House appropriations committee from March 2020 to June 2022, a position Montalvan said he secured through his close ties with Duterte, then the president’s son. At that time, Yap represented the ACT-CIS Party-list.
“Benguet proved to be lucrative,” Montalvan wrote. “In the 2022 elections, Yap abandoned his party-list seat and ran for congressman in Benguet—even if he was not a Cordilleran. Duterte the father even said Yap influenced the choice of district engineer so he could control the awarding of projects.”
In a separate expose, Philippine Star columnist Jarius Bondoc reported in September 2024 that, based on information from Magalong, some politikos involved in the racket allegedly pocketed as much as 70 percent from “rock nettings” and “cat’s eyes” used for slope protection in mountainous areas.
Aside from the Benguet racket, Montalvan also noted that during Yap’s term as appropriations chair, Duterte’s first district in Davao City received a staggering ₱51 billion in infrastructure funds.
LINK to the Original Article LINK to the Original Article - Rock and racket: Is Magalong protecting Paolo Duterte, Eric Yap?
