Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Asean funds didn’t go through COC, says guv
Gov. Gwendolyn Gar-cia said funds for national projects related to the Asean Summit did not go through the Cebu Organizing Committee, but the finding of irregularities on the projects should not strip Cebu of the honor of hosting the summit well.
“As far as Cebu is concern, we did our part and we did it very well and it will never be taken away from us,” the governor said.
But she said a proper accounting should be made because public funds are involved.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has found that 136 projects costing some P1.5 billion undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the 12th Asean Summit violated the procurement law.
The state auditors have ordered DPWH to explain this irregularity otherwise payments made may be disallowed.
Garcia said these projects never passed through the Cebu Organizing Committee (COC), of which she co-chaired with Ambassador Mar-ciano Paynor.
Paynor was also the secretary-general of the National Organizing Committee.
“Perhaps it was discussed as far a monitoring is concerned, if it was implemented, with the presence of DPWH in the COC. But as far as the handling of the funds, or even bidding and disbursement, it never passed through the COC,” the governor said of the projects.
In a separate interview, businessman Crisologo Saavedra, who was the first to question some of the transactions related to the summit last January, said he “hopes the ombudsman can now move ahead in its investigation.”
Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago, in an interview, refused to comment on how the agency’s ongoing investigation on the matter is doing, saying only that it remains pending.
Santiago is in Jakarta, Indonesia on official business.
But an anti-graft office source said the agency is getting a copy of the audit report and will be incorporating it in the investigation that had resulted in the six-month preventive suspension of then Mandaue City mayor Alfredo Ouano, incumbent Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and 17 others, including officials of the DPWH Central Visayas office.
Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol wants to open separate fact-finding investigations on other components of the COA documented irregularities.
Saavedra first questioned the anomalous manner the bidding for the supply of surveillance cameras was carried out by the DPWH. He was one of the bidders in the deal.
He offered the lowest quotation but the contract was awarded to a previously disqualified supplier.
While that was pending, he submitted a letter-request that asked the anti-graft office to also look into the possibility that the lampposts the DPWH bought from two suppliers—Fabmik Construction and Equipment Corp. and Gampik Construction and Development Corp.—were overpriced.
The fact-finding investigation tended to confirm the allegation and resulted in the filing of a criminal and administrative complaint against Ouano, Radaza, former DWPH 7 director Roberto Lala and assistant directors Marlina Alvizo and Gloria Dindin, as well as DPWH chief legal officer Agustinito Hermoso.
Also included in the charge that is now pending before a panel of anti-graft investigators are City Engineer Julito Cuizon, Assistant Engineers Fernando Tagaan Jr. and Rogelio Veloso, all of Lapu-Lapu City, and City Engineer Hidelisa Latonio, Assistant Engineers Gregorio Omo, Alfredo Sanchez Sr., Mario Gerolaga and Rosalina Denque, all of Mandaue City.
The money the DPWH used to defray the costs incurred by its Asean summit-related procurements came from the Motor Vehicle Users Charge.
According to the audit report, 136 projects costing P1.525 billion were implemented without public bidding.
Of the projects, 63, costing P766.75 million, were implemented without perfected contracts.
As to the streetlamps, COA also found that the cost, which totaled P54.94 million for 660 units, “was bloated” by as much P35.56 million.
Other findings include how 16 regular maintenance projects costing P168.32 million were implemented in areas which weren’t even part of the summit and how P30.33 million in road repair work was implemented on private properties.
“Management of DPWH 7 should not release the remaining 15 percent amounting to P8.24 million and the retention money of P2.75 million and require the contractor to refund the excess payment made in the total amount of P24.570 million,” the report added.
Gampik and Fabmik have been seeking the release of the money they claim is the balance for the supply and installation of the lampposts.
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, in an order dated March 26, blocked it and instead issued a freeze payment order covering the retaining balance of P18-million on the original P120-million contract.
The contract covers the supply of 889 of some 1,860 lampposts obtained from the two suppliers and installed in Cebu City and Mandaue City.
Her order also 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 included the supply and installation of 360 lampposts in Cebu City, each worth P85,000.
It also included 300 of the same P85,000-units in Mandaue; 89 of an additional 124 lampposts worth P224,000 each also in Mandaue; and the 140 single, double- and triple-arm streetlights worth between P314,698 and 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 and cited the “urgent need to protect the interest and prevent further damage to the government.”
“This order shall remain effective until revoked,” it read.
Garcia also said the amounts that COA mentioned are public funds and must therefore be subject to accountability.
“The same way all of us public officials are subject to strict scrutiny…. Let the proper accounting continue because its people’s money,” she said.
The Cebu Provincial Government spent about P600 million to build the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) for the summit.
Aside from the 10 percent of the amount, which was released as advance payment to contractors, COA did not find other violations in the procurement law that the Province committed.
COA has commented that all the prices in the procurement of the items for the CICC are reasonable. (MBG/KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (November 11, 2007 issue)
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