Quickie Arrey

 

                     Vince and Arrey: They go a long way. FB photograb

“AYAW NIYANG makasagabal at ayaw niyang maging distraction ito dahil alam niyang napakabigat na kailangan nating gawin at siya ay nag-tender ng irrevocable resignation at tinanggap ko na.”

So announced Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon of Undersecretary Arrey Perez’s resignation on Friday, Oct. 17, in the face of allegations linking his underling to contractors.

“Undersecretary Arrey Perez,” said Batangas 1^st District Rep. Leandro Leviste in an interview with DZRH earlier that day, in response to Dizon urging him to name DPWH officials he had claimed were reportedly linked to contractors involved in the controversial flood control projects.

“May mga red flag, tulad ng bakit sa labas ng opisina [meeting] sa mga contractor na magbi-bid sa proyekto? In the context of DPWH, we should hold our officials to a high standard. We cannot give them the benefit of the doubt. The burden of proof is on them, especially if they’re having meetings outside of the DPWH office with contractors of DPWH to prove na wala silang kickback,” Leviste said.

He also raised Perez’s “questionable history” on biddings and procurement, thus: “Siya ay nagkaroon na ng maraming posisyon, kabilang diyan nag-serve siya sa BCDA [Bases Conversion and Development Authority] kasama si Sec. Vince Dizon. Marami pong question sa biddings at procurement na ginanap sa mga dinaanan niyang mga posisyon. Kaya nakakapagtaka bakit sa lahat ng mga tao sa buong Pilipinas, si Usec. Arrey Perez pa ang aatasan ni Sec. Vince Dizon para sa posisyon na ‘yan, na posible pa siya ang hahawak ng bidding ng mga proyekto sa central office na sakop ang buong bansa?”

Even as Perez’s resignation has been accepted, Dizon said the investigation will continue. “The cleansing process will spare no one and show no favoritism, whether they’ve been here before, have already resigned, are from the previous administration, or are people I personally brought in.”

“No one will be exempt, and that’s what we need to do,” Dizon emphasized.

The proverbial reference to the marines easily raised at the DPWH chief there. 

18-day Usec at DPWH

Dizon himself handpicked Perez as undersecretary for operations in charge of convergence projects and technical services and administered his oath of office along with four other undersecretaries last Sept. 29. Resigning on Oct. 17, Perez’s sojourn at DPWH lasted all of 18 days. Shorter than a TUPAD worker’s.

100-day P-COO at MPTC

Before jumping to the DPWH, Perez was chief regulatory officer of the Metro Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. starting March 1, 2025 effectively serving all of six months in that post which in effect was a plunge from the position of president and chief operating officer of the MVP corporation he was appointed to on Nov. 30, 2024. Yes, he was PCEO for all of 100 days. And all of 11 months at MPTC. Short of the reglementary job permanency.

One-year plus at CIAC    

A longer tenure – 14 Sept. 2023 to 30 Sept. 2024, exactly one year and 16 days – Perez had as president and chief executive officer of the Clark International Airport Corp. His most tangible achievement – a mural on a wall depicting the development of the Clark International Airport from paper planes to a sorry excuse for a wide-bodied passenger jet that local art critics readily ridiculed as “obrang bitis,” literally foot-painted in Kapampangan.

To be fair, Perez did indeed get CIAC into the global limelight – though infamously – with his appropriation of an image of Midway Rising – a mixed-use development in San Diego California USA by SafdieRabines Architects – for his dreamed-up “Taylor Swift-ready” arena in Clark and imprinting thereat the CIAC logo. A clear case of piracy. (https://punto.com.ph/piracy-becomes-ciac/)

Longest stay at BCDA

Before CIAC, Perez had an extensive career at the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, rising from internal auditor in 2005 to vice president for business development and then senior vice president for corporate services group when Dizon was BCDA president-CEO.

It was their time together that saw the rise of New Clark City, debuting with the world class sports facilities Class 1 Athletics Stadium and Aquatics Center and Athletes’ Village showcased in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games but mucked with the Games’ P50-million cauldron derided as “the golden kaldero.”

Seeing red

It does not take a Congressman Leviste to see red at what was also then jeered at as “Cayetano’s folly” – for then-House Speaker Allan Peter’s dogged defense of that doggone cauldron.

Red as it is, in the mega scheme of things under investigation, that cauldron is but a small pennant, but glaring enough to warrant questions. As Leviste did, raising Perez’s “questionable history.”

Aye, there’s that controversial joint venture agreement between BCDA and MTD Capital Berhad for the P13-billion New Government Administrative Center project in New Clark City signed in 2018, if ageing memory serves right.

Issues too deep for me to dredge, I’d rather amuse myself with the quirkiness in quick-to-quit Arrey Perez.