Pagcor chief Tengco’s family firm bags billions in DPWH deals

Jojo Cadiz Jr. isn’t the only contractor-friend whom Ferdinand Marcos Jr. placed in power. The Philippines’ gaming regulator chief — who has close ties to the First Couple — also has past and present links to a construction firm whose fortunes soared under the current administration.

Rappler’s research has found that Alejandro “Al” Tengco, who once owned Nationstar Development Corporation, has received 14 government contracts worth a staggering P7.1 billion since 2022, coinciding with the time that he became Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman and chief executive officer.

Currently, his three children own the construction firm.

These ties contribute to the ongoing national discourse on conflicts of interest among public officials.

“It falls into a familiar gray area that our ethics and anti-graft rules were really built to scrutinize. We do have laws that look not only at an official’s direct dealings, but also at indirect interests, including those held through immediate family. And being at the helm of a GOCC doesn’t create a carve-out — if anything, it adds heavier expectations of disclosure and prudence,” political and electoral reform advocate Eirene Jhone Aguila, a lawyer who co-convenes the Right to Know Right Now! (R2KRN) coalition, told Rappler.

Spike in government contracts

Data from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) show that within a nine-year period from 2016 to 2025, Nationstar Development Corporation bagged contracts amounting to P8.6 billion.

These include 17 contracts worth P2.2 billion during the Duterte administration. The value of its secured DPWH projects, however, more than tripled within the first three years of the Marcos administration.

Notably, its biggest contract is a bypass road project in Davao City. Five contracts related to the project — totaling P40 billion — are available on the DPWH website, and Nationstar won one of these contracts — with a value of P4.6 billion — as part of a joint venture with AIMM Builder and Construction Supply and China Road and Bridge Corporation in June 2023.

A press release from the DPWH website said the project seeks to cover 45.5 kilometers of roads to “alleviate traffic congestion and enhance connectivity for residents and commuters in the area.” The five contracts have an expiry date in 2026 or 2027, just before Marcos’ six-year term ends.

Nationstar also secured two contracts for the construction of the College of Law building at the West Visayas State University, valued at P779 million. First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos has been teaching criminal law at the university since 2022.

The firm’s third most expensive contract, worth P278 million, is the rehabilitation of a building in Malacañang, the seat of the Philippine presidency.

Nationstar won the contract in June 2024 against three other bidders. It is tagged as “ongoing” and “100% completed” at the same time in the DPWH transparency portal.

Other notable projects include a quarter-billion-peso contract for the construction of a multi-purpose training and instructional facility in Batac, Ilocos Norte, the home province of the President. It won against four other bidders for the project that is now tagged as 100% completed in the DPWH transparency portal.

Nationstar has a triple A license from the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board, allowing it to undertake large and complex projects with contract costs above P450 million. This license rating means the company has met the minimum net worth of P180 million, and has completed a single project valued at above P225 million.

Tengco’s ties to Nationstar

Tengco, an Ateneo alumnus from grade school to college with a degree in business management, had three decades of experience in the private sector, half of which were spent in the construction industry. He was also vice mayor of Malolos, Bulacan from 1988 to 1992, according to his resumé on the Pagcor website.

From 2007 to 2014, Tengco was CEO of JBROS Construction, which figured in the Makati City Hall parking building scandal in 2015. Tengco, which led JBROS at the time, denied bidding for the project in 2007.

He subsequently became CEO of Nationstar from 2015 until he was appointed Pagcor chief and CEO in August 2022.

A General Information Sheet filed by Nationstar with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2022 listed Tengco as president of the firm, and his son Alessandro as its corporate secretary.

The older Tengco, at the time, owned 93.99% of the firm, with total shares valued at P244 million. The son’s shares accounted for only 0.01%, amounting to P26,000.

The next GIS filed by Nationstar in March 2023 indicated that Tengco had divested his shares. Alessandro now acts as CEO, and his two other children Amanda Camille T. Banson and Juan Xavier Tengco have been included as members of the board.

Each child owns 31.33% of the company, with the remaining shares held by three other stockholders.

Tengco’s ties to Marcoses

Tengco and the First Couple are close friends. They moved in the same social circles, attending exclusive gatherings frequented by the country’s political and business elite.

A Philippine Star article from 2009 noted that Tengco was among the guests in then-congressman Marcos’ surprise birthday party in The Fort.

In an interview with People Asia in 2024, Tengco recalled that Marcos confirmed his appointment as Pagcor chief during a surprise party for the First Lady.

Liza Marcos was also among the guests during the wedding of Tengco’s son Alessandro in Thailand in January this year.

In June, Liza also posted a photo of a weekend lunch with Tengco’s family.

Tengco and Liza Marcos were in Ateneo at around the same time, with Liza graduating in 1981 and Tengco in 1982.

R2KRN co-convener Aguila said Tengco’s ties to a contracting firm owned by his children cast a spotlight on whether he had a hand — formally or informally — in decisions connected to Nationstar’s public works fortunes.

“I would be careful not to jump to conclusions. What we can fairly say is that the pattern raises legitimate questions under our conflict-of-interest rules. It’s not an accusation; it’s really a call for clarity — the kind of transparency that protects both the public and the official involved,” she added.

Former finance undersecretary and budget expert Cielo Magno, however, is more direct, telling Rappler: “He is not absolved because a head of a GOCC is a public official. Section 3(b) of Republic Act 3019 prohibits public officials from having a financial or pecuniary interest in any business that deals with the government.”

Rappler reached out to Chairman Tengco via his Pagcor office, and Nationstar via its SEC-listed email addresses, on Tuesday, December 9, and followed up on Wednesday, December 10, but they have yet to respond. This story will be updated once they do.

Just last week, Rappler reported on the contracting ties of then-justice undersecretary Cadiz Jr., Bongbong Marcos’ longtime trusted aide, whom resigned congressman Zaldy Co also alleged to be the President’s bagman. Cadiz resigned after the publication of Rappler’s investigative report. – Rappler.com