Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Saavedra says guv ‘dishonest’ in saying Province is debt-free
WAS Gov. Gwen Garcia being honest in reporting in her State of the Province Address (Sopa) last Thursday that the Provincial Government of Cebu is debt-free?
Businessman Cris Saavedra doesn’t think so. He asked why she didn’t acknowledge the existence of a P261-million sum of money suit filed against her and the Provincial Government by Willy Te of WT Construction.
WT built the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) for the Provincial Government in time for its hosting of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last year.
Saavedra wrote the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas saying the project was overpriced and that it was being implemented in violation of the procurement act.
When Garcia announced in public that the CICC cost the Province less than the P600 million approved budget, Saavedra exposed the undeclared P261 million
expenditures by presenting a billing statement that bore Te’s signature.
Later, saying the billings he sent wasn’t being acted upon, Te filed a sum of money suit before the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
“The province is now reaping the honor in having successfully hosted the Asean Summit, a feat which was not possible without the plaintiff’s enormus sacrifice and contribution; and more than that, it is now also earning income from rentals paid on the use of the CICC,” the suit read.
Accomplished
It said the Province failed to pay the construction firm even after the latter had accomplished its end of the contract.
According to Te in the suit and demand letters, the amount covered site development, plumbing and electrical works.
Attachement
“The Province is clearly indebted to WTCI for the aforementioned sums over and above all legal counterclaims,” he said. He stressed that a writ of preliminary attachment is necessary because “there is no sufficient security that exists for the satisfaction and enforcement of WTCI’s claims.”
“The court is now determining the actual amount owed. They said they will pay if the court will order them to pay. Isn’t that an admission that they do owe something?” Saavedra asked.
The businessman intends to bring the matter up to the Office of the Ombudsman.
Existing laws
He admitted, though, that he does not know if the supposed act of “being dishonest in a report to the public” constituted an act that violates existing laws.
Saavedra also mentioned other things Garcia said in her Sopa.
“She claimed that the Province acquired a lot of properties under her term but these properties have been there a long, long time ago. She merely recovered them,” he said.
He cited as examples the lot being occupied by the AFP Central Command and the Cebu City Zoo.
“What she did is just recover them; a simple return of lots by the previous occupants,” he said.
Garcia also reported that the CICC earned P32 million after a year of operation. But Saavedra said that if the allegations that the project cost almost a billion are true, the P32 million gross income is less than what the investment would have earned if the money had been deposited in a bank at 12 percent interest per annum. (KNR)
