Former DPWH Region 12 officials and seven private individuals face charges at the Sandiganbayan over allegedly inflated payments for land along the Digos-Makar National Road
ROAD RIGHT-OF-WAY SCAM – The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, filed graft and malversation charges before the Sandiganbayan against six personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and seven private individuals over an alleged P491.9-million road right-of-way scam in General Santos City.
Among those charged are former DPWH Region 12 Regional Director Subair Saro Diron and former Assistant Regional Director Laureano B. Suan Jr. The anti-graft body said it found “prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction” against the two former officials and four other DPWH personnel.
The Ombudsman filed 18 informations for malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents under Articles 217 and 171 of the Revised Penal Code. It filed another 18 informations for violation of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The cases involve government payments for 18 parcels of land said to have been affected by the construction of the Digos-Makar National Road in Barangay Lagao, General Santos City.
According to the Ombudsman, the DPWH Region 12 technical working group approved the release of P491,931,120.20 to claimants who allegedly presented falsified documents to support their right-of-way claims.
Investigators also found that the claims were inflated. A 2009 appraisal value of P3,500 per square meter was allegedly used to compute compensation for properties that the government had actually taken back in the early 1990s, which drove up the amounts paid out.
The charges stemmed from three investigation reports submitted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in 2018 and 2019.
A key piece of evidence is the 2017 affidavit of witness Roberto S. Catapang Jr., who admitted taking part in the alleged syndicate. “The group… in collusion with respondent public officers, collected money from the government purportedly as payments for the acquisitions, by fabricating and submitting fake documents,” Catapang said in his sworn statement, as quoted by the Ombudsman.
In a separate administrative decision, the Ombudsman also ordered the dismissal from service of former DPWH Region 12 legal officer Ansare Mariga Busran.
The respondents are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The Sandiganbayan will next determine whether there is probable cause to proceed with the cases.
The filing adds to the mounting scrutiny of the public works department, which is now led by Secretary Giovanni Lopez after a leadership shake-up last month. The agency is also under pressure in the Senate, where leaders have vowed to strip unsupported DPWH projects inserted into the 2027 budget.
Senate finance committee chairman JV Ejercito has likewise said the chamber will be strict in reviewing public works items, while pushing to restore funds for foreign-assisted infrastructure projects that he said should not be delayed.
Right-of-way payments have long been flagged as a weak point in infrastructure spending, since the government must compensate landowners before roads, bridges and other projects can push through. The Ombudsman’s cases in General Santos City put a nearly half-billion-peso price tag on how such payments can allegedly be abused.