Saturday, October 04, 2008 CH officials to seek Ombud nod on uprooting of 668 lampposts
CEBU City Hall found two more reasons to remove the controversial lampposts: they were installed without permits and they obstruct the city’s sidewalks.
City Building Official Josefa Ylanan said that some of the lampposts are installed at the center of the sidewalk, which is a violation of the accessibility law.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said the City intends to pull out some 668 lampposts that were installed in the City before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in January last year.
But whether the City can legally do it will depend on the Office of the Ombudsman.
“We are going to present to the Ombudsman our arguments, and our lawyers want to know if the lampposts have already been offered to the Sandiganbayan as evidence. We have to remember that the issue is overpricing, and not the delivery and installation, so we don’t see any problem with the removal,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez heads the task force created by the City Council to look into the procedures on how the City can remove the alleged overpriced lampposts.
The council had said that the lighting facilities are “symbols of corruption” and should be removed from the city’s streets.
Businessman Crisologo Saavedra, the whistle blower in the lamppost controversy, agreed with Fernandez, and said that the lamps can only be secured from vandals once they are dismantled and stored in a warehouse.
In a meeting yesterday afternoon, Ylanan told Fernandez and City Hall lawyers that neither the Department of Public Works and Highways nor the contractor of the lampposts was issued a permit to install the lamps.
“Our office did not issue any permit for the installation, and some of those lamps also obstruct the sidewalk. The pedestrians have to step down the road because some of the lamps are at the center of the sidewalk. That’s a violation of the accessibility law,” she said.
In his news conference yesterday, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he is in favor of the removal of the lampposts, but he will leave it to Vice Mayor Michael Rama to look into the legal issues.
“I don’t mind because he (Rama) has a point. What are we going to do with those lamps? We’ll just remove them, maybe except those installed near the Marco Polo because their chairman expressed interest for it,” he said. (LCR)
