|
Sunday, September 18, 2005
COA says it has yet to get market pacts
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
THE Commission on Audit (COA) Mindanao said they could not look into the "deficiencies" of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contracts for the redevelopment of two public markets as the City Government has still to furnish them copy of the contracts.
The redevelopment of Carmen Market at a contract amount of P118 million and Cogon Market at P198 million is covered under a BOT contract.
This include "each and all the documents" forming part of the two BOT contracts of reference or incorporation, if any, such as the Advertisement for Bids, Instruction to Bidders, Abstract of Bids, Award General Conditions, Specifications, Proposal and Contract Book and Certificate of Availability of funds among others.
A COA-Mindanao Annual Audit Report for 2004, which is certified by lawyer Mariano Kintanar, reported that City Hall did not furnish them copies of the two BOT contracts.
"In the event of any deficiency noted, the same may not be corrected immediately due to the delayed submission of contracts", the report obtained by Sun.Star from COA stated.
Earlier, opposition leaders also called upon Mayor Vicente Emano to present the BOT contracts it signed with UKC Builders, Inc. for the two public markets.
They suspected that something was fishy with how the two contracts were given to UKC Builders and that there was no proper bidding to the same.
So far, the city government has failed to come up with the contracts.
Violation
COA-Mindanao revealed that even the City General Services Officer "agreed and accepted" the findings that it has not submitted any copy of the contracts to COA during their exit conference.
As such the agency said it is now requiring the City General Services Officer to submit the above BOT contracts and all their accompanying documents.
The COA report stated how the City General Services Office (CGSO) "failed to completely and promptly submit to the Office of the Auditor the contracts of the Build-Operate-Transfer Agreement for the Redevelopment of Carmen and Cogon markets".
It cited that this failure is a violation of COA-Circular No. 76-34 that provides that "within five days from the execution of a contract by the government or any of its subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities should be furnished to the unit or agency auditor irrespective of amount".
This same circular also stipulates that the regional director shall also be furnished a copy if the amount involved is more than P100,000.
Aside from the unit or agency auditor the Commission proper shall also be furnished a copy of the contract.
Post-audit
The same circular states that this procedure applies for all public works of major repairs, improvement or construction, as well as those for public service and or furnishing of supplies, materials and equipment, supplementary agreements, change orders and extra work orders.
"The management is required by law and/or rules and regulations to furnish the head of the auditing unit with copies of contracts/orders and supporting documents," the COA report reads.
"This is designed to enable the auditing unit to perform its duties relating to the post-audit of the transactions at the most appropriate time and manner without any way delaying or obstructing the implementation or prosecution of the project", it continued.
COA reported that it is the task of City Hall's CGSO "being the procurement office to notify the Office of the Auditor for the purpose of giving information with regards to the procurement activities of the city".
The agency reiterated that as of December 31, 2004, the re-developed Carmen Market is already operational and the re-development of Cogon Market is almost done, but until now the subject contracts were not yet submitted for review to the Office of the City Auditor.
It added that in the event of any deficiency noted, the same might not be corrected immediately because of the delayed submission of contracts.
(September 17, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
|
