Friday, June 29, 2007 Wenceslao: Saavedra and Sepulveda By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
VINDICATED? I won't use the word, but businessman Crisologo Saavedra did get bragging rights when Gov. Gwen Garcia admitted that the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) costs higher than what she declared last May. CICC construction cost (May): P581.27 million. CICC construction cost (now): possibly P793.19 million.
Saavedra was the first to expose the discrepancy, using a copy of a billing WT Construction, the CICC builder, submitted to the Capitol. As expected he sensationalized that, as is his bent as “whistleblower,” and made it appear that was already proof that the CICC was overpriced. Apparently stunned, Capitol officials initially refused to comment.
One problem for the governor on this issue is that in the presentation she made in May on CICC’s expenses, she did not leave an opening for discrepancies. (That is, if she did not intentionally withhold some data.) The perception was that the final figure for the CICC cost was P581.27 million.
That made it easier for Saavedra to counter-attack.
But vindication? The case Saavedra filed with the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas is plunder, his main allegation being that Capitol officials and other people earned millions of pesos by artificially jacking up CICC’s construction cost. Vindication is when the ombudsman files the case. Vindication is when the accused are found guilty.
In the meantime, I don’t think Capitol should be stymied by critics’ allegations of overpricing and other issues against the CICC. The structure is there and the facility has obviously become an object of interest not only because of the controversy swirling around it but also because of its use as one of the main venues of the 2006 Asean summit.
Since expectations of CICC visitors and users are high, Capitol should therefore improve the facility and spend for it if it must to make it look better. I have heard of people talk about the CICC as having become a turn-off for them. Unmet expectations usually end up in facilities losing their appeal and therefore profitability.
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, meanwhile, should speed up its probe on Asean summit-related projects, including and especially the CICC. With the allegation on overpricing in the construction of the CICC still hanging, it would be difficult to leave the controversy behind and proceed to the next stage, which is to fully use the facility.
Besides, I think Saavedra and his sponsors are continuously salivating at the thought of the governor and other officials getting suspended first, then jailed later, convinced as they that the plunder case will stick. Of course, reality bites sometimes, so what they are dreaming may not happen. But isn’t dreaming a right?
By the way, congressman-elect Pablo John Garcia’s replacement as Capitol consultant on information is off to a roaring start.
Lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda is bent on chasing Saavedra wherever he goes and counter whatever he says. Or at least that was what I heard him say on radio several days ago. He could be more aggressive than PJ.
My advice to Sepulveda, though. In his new work, timing is important. He should know when to speak out and when to shut up, when to attack and when to back off, when to be soft and when to spew insults. That’s difficult I am sure, considering the issues hurled against the governor and other officials and the number of Capitol critics out there.
