City helps barangays beat ban on infra spending

CEBU City Hall started releasing yesterday the certificate of availability of funds for all infrastructure projects of the north district barangays.

This will allow the barangays to implement them before the infrastructure ban starts on Oct. 18.

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City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said releasing the certification ahead of the funds for the payment to contractors is one way of safeguarding the City’s money.

While the barangay captains will only be getting the certification for now, the funds for their projects will eventually be transferred to their barangays’ accounts once
the contractors submit the bill for payment.

Available

Poblete and City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva suggested to require progress billing, or payment in several installments, provided that the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) conducts regular inspection and monitoring of the contractor’s work.

“The engineering department has to inspect the project and certify that everything is done properly before the barangays make any payment. For now, we will just release the certification of availability of funds just to allow the barangays to start bidding out the projects before the ban,” Poblete told reporters.

Oliva said she was scheduled to sign the certification yesterday afternoon and it will be released to the barangays immediately.

Speed up

The barangay captains will also be given a list of City Hall’s accredited contractors, to guide them in identifying contractors who have the technical and financial capability to undertake projects.

City officials drafted the new guidelines in the release of some P200 million in aid to the barangays, following the controversy in the allegedly anomalous awarding of contracts to E.M. Arante Construction by south district barangays.

This, as Mayor Michael Rama issued a memorandum directing all south district barangay captains to submit a list of their projects whose contracts were awarded to Arante Construction, to facilitate the speedy inspection and investigation of projects.

Arante\’s projects in 16 barangays in the south amounting to P156 million are under investigation, amid reports that they are substandard and overpriced.

The DEPW was tasked to investigate and inspect the projects, and was given a deadline to finish investigation reports by Sept. 15.