City engineer tells barangays to withhold payments for 72 projects of contractor

WITH most of E.M. Arante Construction's projects appearing to be “substandard and highly questionable,” Cebu City Engineer Kenneth Enriquez recommended to blacklist the contractor and advised the barangays to withhold any payment for the projects.

The City's Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) inspected all of Arante's 72 infrastructure projects in 16 south district barangays last Thursday and yesterday, and found numerous defects in nearly all of the projects.

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At City Hall yesterday, Mayor Michael Rama gave orders to hold any payment the City may have for Arante, while the City Council deferred the approval of a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign a P1.9-million agreement with the contractor for a road concreting project in Barangay Budlaan.

Enriquez said they will submit to Rama the initial results of their investigation and their recommendations as well as photos of the defective projects on Monday.

“We finished the inspection of all their projects and nakita nato na very, very poor ang quality sa ilang trabaho. Daghan kaayo ang substandard and ang physical ra gani ang atong gitan-aw ani. Very evident ang defects and definitely, we will ask them to do repairs and until then, dili gyud usa sila dapat bayran,” she told Sun.Star Cebu.

Arante was awarded the contract for P156 million worth of projects in 16 barangays, allegedly with the help of three barangay captains who lobbied among their colleagues to let Arante win in the bidding.

The projects include the construction of sports complexes, day care centers, multi-purpose buildings, health centers, barangay buildings, drainage system, riprap, foot bridges and road concreting, among others.

In random interviews with barangay officials yesterday, Sun.Star Cebu learned that a lot of the barangays have paid for more than half of the project costs, which range from P400,000 to P12 million.

In some of Arante's road concreting projects in the mountain barangays, the concrete was not properly mixed and cured, so that the concrete mixture was loose and rocks and stones fell from its side.

In some cases, the thickness of the concrete did not meet the requirements set by the DEPW, and did not comply with the program of works and estimates (Powe), she said.

“With these findings, most likely I will recommend to the mayor to disqualify Arante from participating in the bidding of projects. They have failed to meet our standards and if their projects don't pass our standards, we can recommend not to pay the contractor at all,” Enriquez said.

Cooperate

Sun.Star Cebu tried to call Enrique Arante, the owner of the construction firm, for his comments, but the calls were not answered.

In an earlier interview, he said he would cooperate in the investigation of the DEPW and would correct any deficiency in their projects.

He also denied Rep. Tomas Osmeña's (Cebu City, south district) claim that he got the contracts with the help of Guadalupe Barangay Captain and City Councilor Eugenio Faelnar Jr., Suba Barangay Captain Jojo Sable and Inayawan Barangay Captain Rustico Ignacio.

Osmeña had asked a team from DPWH Manila to come to the city next week to inspect all of Arante's projects after receiving reports last month that the projects are substandard and overpriced.

He is also investigating the three barangay captains who allegedly backed Arante and connived with other village officials so the contracts would be awarded to it.

Councilor Jose Daluz III, who was designated by Rama to facilitate the release of the aid to the barangays, said he would support the recommendation to blacklist Arante.

He also urged the barangay captains not to release any payment to Arante until the investigation is completed, and repairs are made.

In his news conference, the mayor instructed City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete to go through the transactions and contracts of Arante and if to withhold any payment due for the contractor.

Poblete said the City would release the payment as soon as the DEPW can certify that the projects were properly implemented.

In separate interviews yesterday, Faelnar, Sable and Ignacio, who are allies of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan, denied any involvement in the controversy.

Faelnar said if some city officials want him to step down as president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), he prefers they ask him politely and not to sow intrigues against him.

“Ug duna silay laing tuyo, nganong dili na man lang ko nila sultian? Ug muingon sila na dili na mi gusto nimo, muundang ko dayon. Nganong ila pa man kong dauton? I hope this is not about politics (Why don’t they just tell me to step down? I will step down immediately),” he told reporters.

He identified Basak San Nicolas Barangay Captain George Rama as the one who has been reporting false information to Osmeña.

It was earlier reported that Osmeña's son, Miguel, will run for Guadalupe barangay captain against Faelnar's son in the barangay elections this October, but Miguel denied the report.

Sable and Ignacio confirmed all of their barangay projects were awarded to Arante.

They said when some barangay officials asked them who their contractor was, they gave Arante's name, but they did not lobby for the contractor.

A south district barangay captain, who requested anonymity, revealed yesterday the three barangay captains approached him and told him to award to Arante the contracts for P30 million worth of his barangay's projects.

Other than the three, he said, there were other “emissaries” from City Hall who also lobbied for Arante among the barangay captains.

Funding for the barangay infrastructure projects were directly released by former mayor Osmeña to the barangays last November, to avoid red tape and delays in the bidding at City Hall.

The barangays were given full control of the projects, from drafting the Powe, the bidding of the contract, project implementation and monitoring.