Sunday, March 25, 2007 Up to P95T extra paid for each post By Karlon N. Rama Sun.Star Staff Reporter
OFFICIALS from Cebu City were spared from being charged for the allegedly overpriced purchase of the decorative lamps and streetlights for the Asean summit because they took no part in it.
Acting Deputy Ombudsman Virginia Santiago, in an interview, said records tend to show that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) solely prepared the program of works and estimates (POWE) for the purchase of the units installed in Cebu City.
“Our investigators were not able to find any evidence suggesting that they (Cebu City officials) participated in the transaction in any way. Apparently, they were just made to choose a design,” Santiago said.
The opposite was true in the transactions involving the purchase of the lamps and streetlights put up in Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue cities. That’s why the ombudsman charged Mayors Arturo Radaza and Thadeo Ouano and the engineering departments of their cities last Friday.
According to the eight-page final evaluation report submitted to Santiago by a panel of three associate investigators, there was “evidence of overpricing resulting from collusion arising out of conspiracy” between the two local government units, the DPWH and the suppliers.
The anti-graft office, upon the recommendation of the panel, headed by engineer Rod Blazo with Joy Dacumos, an accountant, and Elmer Gutierrez, a procurement policy expert, recommended the charging of 19 people for the P365.8-million anomaly.
Suspension
They asked for the immediate preventive suspension of all the public officials involved, as they embark on another fact-finding mission.
They will look into the alleged anomalies in the procurement of some P90 million worth of traffic surveillance equipment, the installation of lamps in a private beach resort and the expenses incurred by the Lapu-Lapu City Government.
Another issue remains pending—an accounting of the P155 million used in asphalting 15 short Cebu City road segments.
Businessman Crisologo Saavedra and party-list Bayan Muna filed before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas the complaint on alleged overpricing of lamps and streetlights bought for the summit last January.
A total of 683 decorative lamps can be found in Cebu City.
They are installed along the streets of Salinas Drive all the way to Juan Luna Ave., from the vicinity of the JY Square Mall up to the foot of the Marco Polo Hotel, and along S. Osmeña St., near the North Reclamation Area.
The lamps in Cebu City cost a total of P61,050,000 inclusive of installation, according to a release from the DPWH that now forms part of the case docket.
Pricing
Although uniform in design, the lamps are priced differently.
The ones on Salinas Drive cost P83,300 each while the ones in Marco Polo and S. Osmeña St. cost P95,833 and P96,503 each, including installation.
Almost half of the P61.050-million price tag has been paid —the one covering the cost of buying and installing the 360 lamps on Salinas Drive for P30 million.
The payment was part of the P100-million release made by the Department of Budget and Management to the two supplying contractors—Gampik Construction and Development Inc. and Fabmik Construction and Equipment Co.
The P100 million is the first of two major releases from the P816-million Motor Vehicle Users Charge of the Land Transportation Office that was allocated for summit expenditures.
The money also covered payment for the 300 decorative lamps, 78 of the 114 single-arm streetlights, 58 double-arm and four triple-arm streetlights, all in Mandaue.
Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez was able to stop phase two of the release in a two-page order dated March 16, 2007.
Phase two
Phase two money would have covered the 143 decorative lamps already installed along S. Osmeña Blvd. and 180 more from the vicinity of JY Square Mall in Lahug up to the Marco Polo Hotel, for a total of P17,250,000.
It would also have covered the 89 decorative lamp installed for P224,000 each from the C.D. Seno to the W.O. Seno Sts. and from J. Briones up to Plaridel St. in Mandaue for P20 million.
The lamps used there were painted blue and have round heads.
Phase two has a total allocation of P245.87 million and covers the installation of 64 decorative lamps and 26 double-arm streetlights on UN Ave. in Mandaue worth a total of P27.945 million.
It also includes the installation of 36 single-arm streetlights on J. Briones St., again in Mandaue, worth P12.075 million.
At the average rate of P89,385 each, the 683 lamps in Cebu City are priced higher than the amount stated in the import documents of Chinese manufacturer, Zhongshan Guzhen Yongan, when it shipped the items to Gampik.
Based on the papers, the cost of each lamp is only 224RMB or, when converted to local currency, P1,399.82.
‘Incredulous’
According to the anti-graft office’s computations, the government should not have paid anything higher than P6,737.79 for each unit. The amount factors in additional expenses, duties and fees to the P1,399.82 price tag.
However, the DPWH accepted the estimate for P50,000 per unit and bought them at that rate, exclusive of installation. So, there was a P43,262.21 loss to the government for every yet-to-be-installed unit of decorative lamp bought.
In an earlier interview, engineer Nigel Paul Villarete, chief of Cebu City’s Planning Division, said the amount the DPWH pegged for the lamps and streetlights was “incredulous.”
He revealed that he has his people making their own theoretical POWE for the installation of a similar post, just to determine how much each post could go for in the market, including installation.
The losses to the government were higher in the purchase and installation of the lampposts in Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue.
A total of 724 decorative lampposts, 184 single-arm and 64 double-arm streetlights were installed in Lapu-Lapu for a total of P174 million.
Losses
Mandaue has 655 units—300 decorative lamps of the apex design, 89 more of the round-head design, 114 single-arm, 58 double-arm and four triple-arm streetlights—with the bill reaching P130.02 million.
The contract between the DPWH and Fabmik set the unit price of round-head lamps at P224,000 each inclusive of installation.
The same contract also set the cost of the single, double and triple-arm units at P314,698.33, P325,916.69 and P350,090.48, respectively, including installation cost.
Based on the anti-graft office’s report, the P224,000 lamps should have cost no more than P11,700 each, inclusive of customs duties, transport and other cost excluding installation.
But the DPWH, using the POWE that Mandaue officials admitted to making, bought the yet-to-be-installed lamps at P50,000 each.
The losses were more pronounced in the purchase of the streetlights.
Based on the POWE, each single, double and triple-arm streetlights cost P72,500, P85,500 and P95,000 per unit, excluding installation cost.
However, based on the anti-graft office’s computations from the import documents, they only actually cost P7,536.96, P8,121.20 and P9,523.37 each, excluding installation.
