Friday, May 16, 2008 Speak out: ‘Catch a Big Pugapo’ movement By Jun Monzon Secretary General, MICCI
THE Cebu Business Club and the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) recently launched their own “Catch a Big Pugapo” movement at the Casino Español de Cebu.
This is in response to the Coalition Against Corruption’s “Catch a Big Fish” project. “Pugapo” is the Visayan name for the national fish, Lapulapu.
MICCI is a graft watch unit that has initiated a number of graft cases now pending before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas mainly against Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza.
Radaza has been charged in the alleged scam relative to the purchase of lampposts in time for Cebu’s hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, as well as in the P24-million computer “scam.”
MICCI is also following up some high profile cases, together with Church-based and civil society groups that are also part of the Coalition Against Corruption (www.cac.org.ph).
This includes the P25 million Girl Scouts “scam” among others.
The Ombudsman recently filed graft charges against nine Department of Public Works and Highways officials and two city mayors involved in the Asean lamppost scam.
The case arose from the alleged overpricing of lampposts from between P83,000 to P224,000 each.
Total project cost was P365 million.
The lamps were installed for the 2007 Asean meeting in Cebu.
