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Thursday, November 27, 2003
Project subcontractor to testify against Macalua
GUIHULNGAN, Negros Oriental -- The subcontractor of the controversial building of a P5 million slaughterhouse in Bulado village will testify that Guihulngan Mayor Cesar Macalua allegedly received 40 percent commission from the project.
Brenda Arnillo, vice president of Abattoir Technology Specialist, Co. (ATSC), said late last week, she is willing to witness against the mayor in the wake of a plan by the Municipal Council to file corruption charges against Macalua before the office of the Ombudsman Visayas.
Arnillo said she believes that Lyndon Lataquin of General Contractor Patrila Builders, Inc., main contractor of the project, did not lie to her and her business partners over coffee at Gaisano in Iloilo City when he told them that Macalua had demanded a "higher commission".
She said her business partners are also willing to testify to confirm Lataquin's statement.
Arnillo believes Mayor Macalua and Lataquin conspired to jack up the construction costs to get a higher commission.
Arnillo also said she and Lataquin signed an agreement on May 22, 2001, almost two years before the controversial project was bid out early this year. The agreement, she said, was for formality.
The one-page agreement names Patrila Builders as the proposed general contractor for the project and supplier of the equipment for the Guhulngan abattoir.
Arnillo said that at that time she was still with San Francisco del Monte Machinery & Fabrication Service, Inc. (SFDMFSI) as exclusive distributor being the branch manager for Western Visayas based in Iloilo City.
The agreement commissioned ATSC to get the approval of the project plan for the abattoir project with the National Meat Inspection commission (NMIC) in Manila.
Furthermore, once the project was approved, Lataquin would "irrevocably" constitute Arnillo as subcontractor to supply and install the equipment.
The total cost of the equipments was fixed at P1,652,840 that Arnillo said represented the actual cost of P1,475,750 based on the quotation dated August 28, 2000.
The difference of P177,090 was to represent a 10 percent price increase plus another two percent for processing expenses.
In the quotation signed by Ireneo DG Lomahan, Jr., general manager of SFDM Machinery & Fabrication Services, the actual cost of P1,475,750 was to represent cattle dressing equipment, hog dressing equipment, auxiliary equipment, and miscellaneous charges.
Last March, however, Lataquin lowered the actual cost to P1,040,520 to accommodate the 40 percent commission allegedly demanded by Macalau, Arnillo said.
To justify this, Patrila Builders and ATSC agreed to change the equipment specifications.
She cited the diesel-fired scalding vat with burner that was replaced with solid firewood.
Commenting on the changed specifications, Mayor Macalua said it was done on recommendation of the NMIC.
"Ang rekomendasyon nga samtang dili pa kaayo dako ang demand, kahoy lang una," he said in separate interview.
The allegation of alleged corruption surfaced after ATSC disclosed that the slaughter house is an exact replica of the abattoir in Dumarao, Capiz that cost only P2 million for both the building and the equipment.
The subcontractor claimed that like Dumarao's, the Janiuay abattoir in Guihulngan and the San Francisco abattoir in Camotes, Cebu were contracted by Patrila Builders, Inc. and subcontracted by Abattoir Techonology Specialist, Co. all at the same cost.
Vice Mayor Ernesto Reyes described the allegation as serious because the abattoir was financed by the municipal coffers and involves peoples' money.
The vice mayor said he is surprised why the Guihulngan abattoir should cost almost P5 million.
Macalua confirmed that the project cost P4,969,704.69 and that this was based on the price quotation of the lowest bidder which was Patrila Builders, Inc.
"Ang gusto lang ni Arnillo, paawayon mi sa Patrila Builders, unya kay dili man ko pagamit. Nganong pagamit man ko nga away man sa pribadong kompanya," Mayor Macalua said.
(November 27, 2003 issue)
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