Saturday, August 04, 2007 Ombud denies suppliers’ request to collect P18M balance for lamps By Karlon N. Rama Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Office of the Ombudsman denied a motion seeking the release of government funds as payment for the suppliers of the controversial Asean summit lampposts.
The two-page order was signed last week but received by the Visayas anti-graft office only recently.
Tanodbayan Merce-ditas Gutierrez, in the order, upheld a previous ruling directing the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Budget and Management to withhold all payments for the lamppost supply contract.
Cease, desist
“Let it be stressed anew that the Ombudsman can direct any officer of the government to stop and prevent any impropriety in public office. More specifically, it can order any government agency to cease and desist from the performance of a prejudicial act,” she said.
Lawyers representing Fabmik Construction and Equipment Corp. and the Gampik Construction and Development Inc. earlier sought the lifting of the freeze payment order.
“What was, and remains to be, of foremost concern for this office is the continued preservation of public resources, to the widest extent possible, which is best ensured by the existence of the assailed order,” Gutierrez said.
According to Fabmik, the order was issued in violation of the requirements for hearing.
Stopped
Gampik, for its part, said the cease and desist order does not cover items other than the lampposts it supplied. It said it can legally demand payment.
But on the claim for payment over items other than the lampposts, the Tanodbayan said these “are covered by the assailed order for as long as they are incorporated or included in the contract/s for the acquisition of lampposts and other street-lighting facilities.”
Gutierrez, in an order dated March 26, suspended the payment of “any amount” to the two contractors, pending the anti-graft investigation on the lamppost transaction.
The order covered the P18-million balance of a P120-million contract. The amount covers the supply of 889 of 1,860 lampposts obtained from the two suppliers and installed in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue.
It covered the P3.1-million retention fee owed to Fabmik and which the budget department was, at that time, ready to release in lieu of a surety bond.
Based on the anti-graft office investigation, the 889 lampposts in the P120-million package include the supply and installation of 360 lampposts in Cebu City, each worth P85,000.
Urgent need
It also includes 300 of the same P85,000-units in Mandaue; 89 of 124 lampposts worth P224,000 each, also in Mandaue; and the 140 single-arm, double-arm and triple-arm streetlights worth from P314,698 to P350,090 each, or a total of P44.89 million, again in Mandaue.
The order was addressed to Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya. It cited the “urgent need to protect the interest and prevent further damage to the government.”
“This order shall remain effective until revoked,” it read.
The freeze-payment order came after investigators tracked down the importation documents covering the supplied lampposts as these left China and entered the country.
