MANDAUE City Mayor Thadeo Ouano yesterday said that the program of works and estimates (POWE) the City Government submitted earlier to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) bore slight alterations.
Although the same total was reflected, the other specifications were changed and, according to Ouano, the DPWH altered the figures City Hall submitted.
With the changes, Ouano believes the POWE Mandaue sent to the DPWH wasn’t used. That means the City Government was not involved in the alleged overpricing of the P368.5-million lamps and streetlights bought for the Asean summit last January.
“Asa gud ka’g program of works nga gikuris-kurisan (Where can you find a POWE with alterations)?” Ouano said. The mayor, however, did not provide a copy of the POWE that bore the alterations.
Ouano is among the 19 public officials the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas charged criminally and administratively for the alleged overpricing.
Businessman Crisologo Saavedra, one of those who filed complaints, will ask the anti-graft office to seek a hold-departure order for officials of the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, DPWH and the winning and losing bidders of the lamps and streetlights.
Disturbing
Without naming the losing bidders, Saavedra said they should be included in the plunder complaint and hold order because they conspired to take part in the rigged bidding.
A church-based organization described the alleged overpricing as “disturbing” and called on the public to come out with a strong voice condemning the corruption.
“We believe there are still more honest than dishonest people in this country. Sadly, many honest ones have succumbed to the slavery of passivity and silence,” Fr. Carmelo Diola, coordinating steward of Dilaab Foundation Inc., said in a letter addressed to Cebuanos.
“The numbers are very disturbing…And payment for these items comes from the hard-earned money of taxpaying ordinary workers, consumers and businesses,” he said.
Dilaab is helped by a member organization Barug Pilipino in soliciting public reactions to the investigation.
“We are all in this together. We need to raise one collective voice, a voice that expresses disgust over corruption,” he said in the letter.
Not enough
But the anti-graft office was fed with inadequate information regarding the 2,310 lamps and streetlights put up in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, an official of one of the suppliers said.
Romy Fuentes, project director of Fabmik Equipment and Construction Corp., said in a dyLA radio interview yesterday that DPWH 7 committed lapses, resulting in the erroneous findings by the anti-graft office.
Fuentes said he based this conclusion on newspaper reports he had read. The news items reportedly showed that DPWH submitted inadequate data to the ombudsman’s office.
He added that based on the news report, DPWH only computed the hardware but not the entire facility. He also criticized the DPWH on the way it handled the lampposts project, saying the agency has no knowledge of the electrical industry.
“DPWH is basically and solely involved in public works, road construction, civil works. In circuitry or circuit systems, my goodness, they do not have experience. They would have a different conclusion had they consulted government agencies with knowledge on circuitry,” Fuentes said.
Prove it
He also said the DPWH should have consulted either the Visayan Electric Co. or the National Transmission Corp. to come up with the exact project cost.
But Fuentes refused to say whether there was connivance between their firm and DPWH.
For his part, Lapu-Lapu City Attorney Vincent Joseph Lim said in a separate interview that the ombudsman should prove that there was collusion between public officials.
Lim, who came to the defense of Mayor Arturo Radaza, said that while it is easy to make allegations, it is difficult to prove them. He also said the case against the city officials is baseless.
Lim said they are just waiting for them to be summoned to reply to the allegations.
He also supported City Administrator Teodulo Ybańez’s statement that the POWE that Lapu-Lapu City officials signed was prepared by the DPWH and was only submitted to them for signing.
‘Jealous’
Lim, however, said he cannot identify who these officials were and that Radaza signed only in the noted portion of the document.
For his part, Mayor Ouano said he was the first to sign the POWE and DPWH officials only signed it later.
“I have nothing to hide. Wa ta nakagunit sa kwarta,” he said. He reiterated his belief that politics is behind the filing of the complaint against him.
He said Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeńa is only jealous because most the activities related to the 12th Asean Summit were held at the Cebu International Convention Center in Mandaue.
In an interview with radio dyLA, Ouano said he is confident that he will be cleared.
He also said the City prepared the POWE so it could avail itself of funds for the preparations for the hosting of the Asean summit. (AAG/EOB/AIV/RCT)
