Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Dad questions dump truck deal suspension By Erwin Ambo S. Delialn
WHAT happened? Why suspend the deal just because of a mere perception of anomaly in the contract?
Councilor Celia Flor passed a resolution urging Mayor Evelio "Bing" Leonardia to submit to the City Council an official report, stating among others, the reason(s) behind the latter's move in suspending the purchase of 10 dump trucks from Commercial Motors Corporation (CMC) based in Manila.
The purchase of 10 dump trucks has a valid program of works and "whether we like it or not, the city really needs to buy these because there's an allotted budget for them," stressed Flor.
Leonardia's order to suspend the deal for the purchase of 10 units of six-wheeler dump trucks from CMC came after City Legal Officer Allan Zamora submitted to his office a recommendation dated April 4 suggesting the immediate suspension of the purchase due to perception of anomaly.
Zamora's recommendation was rooted on the claim of Robert Balansag, a salesman for CMC, that prices of dump trucks were overpriced.
Balansag, in an exclusive interview with F Channel's Franklin Villanueva, said each dump truck is only priced at P700,000, but the city bloated it to P895,000 each so that the excess amount could be charged as SOP (standard operating procedure).
Zamora said Balansag's statements that were exposed to the local media were in violation of Republic Act (RA) 4200 or an act prohibiting and penalizing wiretapping and other related violations of the privacy of communications.
He also opined that what Balansag revealed to the media were all "inadmissible" as evidences in any judicial or quasi-judicial legislative or administrative hearing or investigation.
"So, why suspend the deal?" Flor asked, adding: "I know that my move to ask the mayor for an official report is already too late, yet I just want to know the real story behind the cancellation of the deal in aid of legislation."
Flor stressed the City Council needs the official report of the mayor with explanation on what happened "so that next time around, when the city will negotiate again for the purchase of dump trucks, we will be guided of the factual basis of buying these items, and likewise to eliminate the chances of corruption."
Fresh from her trip abroad, Flor said she and Councilor Catalino Alisbo were the ones who authored a resolution seeking for an immediate investigation of the alleged controversy involving the dump trucks' deal between the City and CMC.
The said resolution was passed before her flight to the United States last week of February for a speaking engagement.
"I was only shocked to know when I came back that the deal was suspended. Much more when I read the letter of lawyer Zamora, recommending to Mayor Leonardia to immediately suspend the deal because of a mere perception of anomaly involved," Flor said.
She added: "If this is so, then the mayor should have suspended also the P400-million New Government Center (NGC) project because it was also alleged to have a lot of anomalous transactions involved, and worst, a lot had been charged in court, and at the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for graft and corruption."
Flor is also apprehensive that the dump trucks issue could be a precedent on the present request of Leonardia for the SP to approve a P50-million appropriation for the purchase of new furniture and fixtures for the NGC.
"That's why on Wednesday, during our regular session, I will move to scrutinize first the newest request by the mayor for this P50-million budget meant to buy new furniture and fixtures for NGC," vowed Flor.
