Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Roof deck will be 14th City Council's legacy
By Barbara Carla R. Quiero
THE roof deck project, which remains in its skeletal state, would be the 14th City Council's legacy to the Dabawenyos.
Whether the councilors would admit responsibility for the project or not, it would still represent what this batch of legislators have done.
For this reason, Councilor Victorio S. Advincula urges his colleagues to rally as one and the Office of the Ombudsman to hasten its investigation so that the project would be resumed soon.
"Whether you like it or not the people see it as the project of the City Council. It is the CEO all right that makes the structure but this project belongs to us and we cannot say that this project belongs to any other agency of the city government," he said.
He added, "And because it is the City Council's, then the councilors should exert effort to ensure that it doesn't stay as it is now once their terms end next year."
"We cannot leave this as a legacy to the people of Davao, it's a bad legacy that the 14th city council left that kind of structure costing millions and later on it became entirely useless. We have to face the problem squarely, we cannot run away from it," Advincula said.
He pointed out that for as long the case is being deliberated, nothing could be done to the structure, referring to City Engineer Meinrado R. Metran's statement that leaving the skeletal structure remain untouched would hasten the deterioration of both the roof deck structure and the main building.
"I think, coming from the news, maybe this roof deck may not be finished or nothing will be done about it until the Ombudsman will finish the investigation," Advincula said in his privileged speech during Tuesday's council session.
He said, "I am calling the attention of my honorable colleagues as to what should be done. We cannot keep our hands folded and just wait what exactly will happen without doing anything because needless to say, of the investment of Davao here."
"Maybe the City Council as a whole can ask the Ombudsman to make investigation faster so that things will be finished and we will have a definite direction as to what we will do with that because as long as the investigation there is pending, it seems that we cannot do anything," he added.
Construction of the project started in 2002 but was stopped following charges of structural flaws and questionable designs.
As a result, the Ombudsman charged Metran for neglect of duty, as it was Metran who pushed for the construction after this was left untouched by his predecessor Engineer Joaquin Cui even as the project had already been approved and a budget allotted in 2001.
Metran, in his reply to the Ombudsman charges, said he should not be rapped for neglect of duty since he was in fact doing his job.
He also pointed out that claims of structural flaws are unfounded as shown by the report of structure engineer Allan E. Botuyan who was contracted by the City Government to look into the structural integrity of the project.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (March 29, 2006 issue)
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