Marcos’ NIA chief is from contractor family, topping projects in their turf

Eddie Guillen, a local ally of the Marcoses in Ilocos Norte and presidential appointee to head the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), belongs to a family of big government contractors who have scored projects in towns where they are also the elected leaders.

Guillen’s wife, two daughters, son-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew, or six of his family members own companies despite being elected public officials themselves. Together they have four companies among them with billions worth of contracts from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) since 2016. Several of their hundred-million-peso contracts are in joint ventures with each other, or sharing the pot.

Guillen’s wife Gina Guillen is the mayor of Piddig, and the vice mayor is her brother, Edwin Salazar. Since 2016 or for 10 years, three companies that belong to the Guillen-Salazar clan have been in the top four DPWH contractors with most projects located in Piddig, listed below according to amount:

• DYLAN EQUIPMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND SUPPLIES – owned by Guillen’s son-in-law with P415.8 million worth of DPWH projects in Piddig (No. 2)
• NORTH TECH BUILDERS AND CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY – owned by Salazar’s wife with P372.3 million worth of DPWH projects in Piddig (No. 3)
• SKYLINE CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION – owned by Guillen’s three children with P368.4 million worth of DPWH projects in Piddig (No. 4)

Dylan Equipment became No. 2 because it is the named contractor for two big joint ventures in Piddig. Its partner is also Skyline, keeping it within the family.

In Claveria, Cagayan, where Guillen’s daughter Lucille Angelus “LA” Guillen-Yapo is the mayor, Skyline is the top DPWH contractor with P358.09 million worth of projects located in the municipality.

Skyline is owned by Guillen’s three children, including Yapo, and excluding their parents. Guillen’s office said this removes conflict of interest.

“Administrator Eddie G. Guillen is not the registered owner of Skyline Equipment and Development Corporation, and any interest he previously had in the company was fully divested well before his appointment as NIA…. Since Skyline does not transact with NIA in any manner, Administrator Guillen’s faithful performance of his duties as NIA administrator does not conflict with Skyline’s business operations,” his office said in an email to Rappler on Friday, December 19.

What NIA transacted with are the companies North Tech (owned by Guillen’s sister-in-law) and Solid North Construction (owned by the Salazars’ son, or Guillen’s nephew).

With Guillen at the helm, NIA has awarded at least six contracts to Solid North Construction and North Tech.

“He did not intervene in any way, nor did he derive — directly or indirectly — any pecuniary benefit from the contracts awarded to Solid North Construction or North Tech Builders,” said Guillen’s office. This is further discussed below.

Skyline maintains there’s no conflict of interest in the contracts. The company told Rappler in an email on Monday, December 22, that “neither Eddie G. Guillen, LA Guillen, Georgina Guillen, Gian Nicolette Guillen-Chua nor any shareholder of Skyline held any position within the DPWH that could have enabled them to intervene in, influence, or affect the bidding or award of DPWH contracts.”

For mayors Gina Guillen and LA Guillen-Yapo, the mother and daughter said their posts in the companies “do not constitute occupation as prohibited under Section 90 of the Local Government Code,” adding that the mayors do not participate in the day-to-day operations.

“The law does not automatically prohibit elective officials from being corporate officers or shareholders. What is prohibited is engaging in private activities that substantially interfere with the performance of official duties,” they told Rappler in a statement.

All in the family

Eddie Guillen, an engineer, used to have a construction company named after him, but the family firm later changed its name from Eddie G. Builders to Skyline Construction Equipment and Development Corporation, which is owned by his three children, according to their corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Skyline is owned by the three Guillen children — Claveria Mayor LA Yapo, Homer Guillen, and Gian Nicolette Chua. Chua is now a councilor of Piddig, Ilocos Norte, but that did not stop her from also serving as managing officer of the company. Chua signs for Skyline’s contracts, including for projects located in a town where she and her husband Dexter sit as councilors, her mother is mayor, and her uncle is vice mayor.

The anti-graft law prohibits conflict of interest, but limits it to contracts where the public official “intervenes or takes part of in his/her official capacity.” Politicontractors have always justified their contracts by saying it was not their office that awarded the projects, but another agency, for example the DPWH.

Of Skyline’s 15 DPWH contracts in Piddig since 2016, 13 were related to flood control.

One of Skyline’s projects in Piddig is the Libnaoan flood control project worth P18.8 million. It was supposed to be finished in July 2024, but was only 73.54% complete, according to the DPWH’s transparency monitoring.

The Local Government Code prohibits mayors from having a second job, but for Mayor Gina Guillen, Rappler has found that since at least 2020, she has sat on the board of another family firm called Springold Construction & Trading Inc. Although Springold does not appear to contract with government, sitting on its board still counts as a second occupation.

Like her mother, Mayor LA Yapo of Claveria, Cagayan, is also prohibited from having a second job, yet she owns both Springold and the contractor Skyline.

Mayor LA Guillen Yapo is married to Dexter Yapo, who is also a councilor of Piddig. Yapo owns the sole proprietorship Dylan Equipment, Construction and Supplies, which is the second biggest DPWH contractor for projects in Piddig.

Down to the in-laws

As far as contractors go, it appears that the original contractors are Guillen’s in-laws. Guillen had declared once working for E.E Salazar Construction, owned by the family of Piddig Vice Mayor Edwin Salazar, brother of Mayor Gina Guillen.

Vice Mayor Edwin Salazar incorporated the family firm North Tech Builders Corporation, and later on, his wife Maribeth set up the sole proprietorship company, North Tech Builders and Construction Supply.

North Tech Builders is the 3rd biggest DPWH contractor in Piddig. North Tech Builders has actually contracted with the Piddig local government unit (LGU). Rappler found at least three contracts worth P477,488 for 2024 and 2025, awarded by the municipality of Piddig. This was part of our questions sent to Vice Mayor Edwin Salazar. We will update this story once we receive a response.

North Tech Builders Piddig LGU Contracts by Lian Buan

Not to be discounted is Solid North Construction, owned by the Salazar son Patrick who is likewise a town councilor. Solid North has bagged P23.77 million worth of DPWH contracts for projects in Piddig.

Solid Norths’ biggest client is actually NIA, where Patrick’s uncle Eddie is the chief. Since December 2022 when Guillen was appointed administrator, Patrick Salazar’s Solid North has bagged five NIA projects in Ilocos Sur worth P43.2 million.

North Tech, on the other hand, scored a P9-million project in Ilocos Sur from NIA in 2023.

The anti-graft law punishes those with direct or indirect financial or pecuniary interest in a government contract “with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity” (Section 3h), or a contract “requiring the approval of a board, panel or group of which he is a member, and which exercises discretion in such approval, even if he votes against it.”

“Administrator Guillen was not aware that Solid North Construction or North Tech Builders participated in, or were awarded, contracts by any NIA regional or provincial office. Had he been aware, he would not have encouraged nor interfered in any manner,” Guillen’s office said.

Guillen’s office explained further that he couldn’t have influenced the bidding process because he did not act as the Head of Procuring Entity or HOPE. Heads of agencies are usually the HOPEs.

“NIA follows a decentralized procurement system, where procurement activities are conducted at the regional and provincial levels. Pursuant to RA 12009 and earlier procurement laws, in decentralized procurement, the HOPE is the head of the concerned regional or provincial office—in this case, the respective regional or provincial managers, not the NIA Administrator,” said Guillen’s office.

Rappler sent a joint letter for the whole family with specific questions for each member, but only Guillen responded. The family was back together in Piddig last week when we were following up our letter, including Guillen, to celebrate Piddig’s festival.

Mayor Gina Guillen maintained there were no contracts awarded by the municipality of Piddig to Solid North and North Tech Builders. However, documents obtained from Philgeps show that the barangay projects awarded to both companies carried the letterhead of the municipality.

– with research from Vicensa Nonato/Rappler.com

Vicensa Nonato is a Rappler intern. She is a third year journalism student at the University of the Philippines Diliman.