Vice guv: Somebody liable for failed provincial project

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The people who were responsible for the failed provincial project should be held liable, a top local official said.

Vice Governor Joseller Guiao on Monday said the P50-million Provincial Geographic Information Service (PGIS) project, which was inked by the Provincial Government with Geodata during the term of former Governor Mark Lapid, is not operational.

“We did not benefit in any way from the Geodata project, so somebody should be held responsible for it," Guiao said.

The Provincial Board on Monday also approved a resolution seeking to transfer some of the officials involved in the failed project elsewhere for "loss of confidence."

Guiao added that the court case filed by former Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu against Geodata should also be pursued.

The PGIS project was awarded in 2005 by the Bids and Awards Committee to Geodata – an information technology company – after no other party joined the bidding.

A source from the Capitol said that the Geodata project is divided into three: the treasury operation system and geoanalyst for real property worth P15 million; administrative and office automation, P7.7 million; training, P1.4 million; Information and Communication Technology services, P10.6 million; tax map digitization, P2.0 million; and hardware, P13.2 million.

“But so many years have passed and after paying the amount of P49 million of a P50-million contract, not a bit of return to the Provincial Government could be seen," Guiao said. (Jovi T. De Leon)