Saturday, November 17, 2007 Hold DPWH liable: Lapu engineer
THE regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and not the Office of the Lapu-Lapu City Engineer should be held liable for the materials used in the construction of an extra parking space at a private resort, an official said.
“Why should COA seek accounting from us when there was not a single centavo given to us by DPWH? We have nothing to do with that,” Acting Lapu-Lapu City Engineer Fernando Tagaan Jr. said yesterday.
The Commission on Audit (COA) report found that P1.52 billion worth of projects DPWH implemented for the Asean Summit in Cebu last January did not follow procurement rules.
The report includes a warning against Tagaan’s office that he will be held liable for any loss of government property in the project that his office implemented in a private resort in Barangay Mactan.
Construction of the additional parking space at Portofino resort was ordered because the place was included in the itinerary of summit delegates.
The project was part of the DPWH allotment of P30.3 million for rehabilitation/repair works on private properties.
Tagaan said the DPWH only tasked his office to identify the ideal resort for the Asean Summit delegates and, afterwards, he was asked to send some men to help implement the project.
He said COA should not drag Lapu-Lapu City into the controversy.
“We only did what the DPWH had told us, but never did we receive a single centavo from that office for the construction of a parking space in Portofino,” he said.
Businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr. has also accused the Lapu-Lapu City Government of wrongdoing.
Pelaez yesterday slammed the anti-graft office for taking too long to resolve various charges filed against Mayor Arturo Radaza.
Pact
Speaking as a reactor in a seminar hosted by the University of Cebu College of Law for members of the bar, he enumerated the charges, such as the overpriced lampposts used during the Asean Summit and the alleged overpriced purchase of personal computers worth about P23 million.
Pelaez’s remark, in turn, stemmed from the call of lecturer Heidi Mendoza, formerly of the Commission on Audit Central Office but now of the Asian Development Bank, for an “integrity pact” between public officials and civil society.
Under the scheme, procurement procedures and guidelines are to be delineated and a “system for the redress of grievances” is set up.
Former Tanodbayan Simeon Marcelo also spoke in the forum. His lecture delved on the administrative disciplinary powers of the anti-graft office.
Pelaez, who also heads the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the business community is doing its part in the fight against corruption.
He filed the graft complaint on the overpriced computers. But the progress of the case has been slow.
The charge, which impleaded the people behind Kein Enterprises, is widely believed to have spawned the Lapu-Lapu City Government’s bid to close down his businesses—the Marina Mall, Southgate Mall and Coralpoint Development Inc.—for lack of permits.
Pelaez’s firms remain open based on a writ of preliminary injunction he was able to obtain from the Regional Trial Court.
He had argued that his establishments, except Coralpoint, are all inside economic zones, so he gets his permits from the economic zone authority.
Silent
He also wondered aloud why the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu chapter has remained silent on the subject of graft and corruption.
“They don’t have to support me or the case that I filed but more of endorsing the anti-corruption campaign as a whole. The business sector is active and so is the church. How come the lawyers are silent?” he said in an interview after his talk.
Lawyers from Cebu City and Cebu Province attended yesterday’s seminar and the attendees included anti-graft investigators who sit in the panel looking into the lamppost case.
However, none of the investigators stood up to react to Pelaez’s comment during the open forum that followed.
Change
But in an interview, one investigator appreciated Pelaez’s move to put the issue out in the open, lamenting that their central office does take time to act on the resolutions that they submit for approval.
Some of the resolutions are merely interlocutory and, during the time of former Tanodbayan Marcelo, were approved at the level of the deputy ombudsman.
“Tanodbayan (Merceditas) Gutierrez changed the procedure when she assumed office,” the investigator said.
The investigator, however, said the investigation on the lamppost case is ongoing, involving 19 public officials and two private respondents.
“If all of them file one motion each independent from each other, you resolve 21 motions,” the investigator explained.
As to the overpriced computers, the investigator said the matter is under fact-finding investigation. (AIV/KNR)
