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Thursday, April 03, 2003
Ex-MCDP 2 project chief ‘was suing himself’
CEBU -- Acting Vice Mayor Gabriel Leyson said Wednesday Samuel Darza should have realized that when he called for an investigation of the Metro Cebu Development Project (MCDP) 2, it was as if he also sued himself.
This was why Leyson was not surprised when Darza and former mayor Alvin Garcia ended up as among the accused in a case over the P1-billion, 57-kilometer road projects in the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Cebu.
In an interview after the Cebu City Council session Wednesday, Leyson pointed out that Darza was the project manager of MCDP 2 while Garcia was its chairman at that time.
Darza has said the anti-graft office should have also implicated Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who was chairman of the pre-qualification, bids and awards committee (Pbac).
Osmeña, who was in Palau Island, was unavailable for comment.
But Leyson, who also served as MCDP 2 project manager, doubts if the ombudsman will find any basis to drag Osmeña into the case, saying he was no longer mayor at that time.
“Gituyuan na nila (They brought this upon themselves). If you are project director, your duty is to see to it that everything is in order. Then you yourself say that this is not in order. So, musumbalik ra na ninyo. I really don’t understand their intention,” Leyson said.
He also said Darza cannot accuse the Pbac of railroading the bidding because the special body comprised representatives from different agencies.
“After filing the complaints, they might end up being convicted instead only because they are not familiar with the requirements of the Department of Finance and COA,” Leyson said.
Caution
“If I’m the project director, I should be cautious. I will do everything to correct the lapses. They’re the ones who signed, so they’ll be the ones who’ll get sued,” Leyson also said.
In a radio interview earlier yesterday, Darza assailed the ombudsman inquiry, which, he said, “did not tackle the anomalies involved in the bidding process.”
And since the Commission on Audit (COA) had only disallowed the P1.5-million payment to Gorones and F.F. Cruz Inc., the anti-graft office should have asked the private contractors to return the disallowed payment, and not elevated the matter into a criminal investigation.
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas upgraded last Tuesday its fact-finding inquiry on MCDP 2 into a formal criminal case against Darza, former mayor Garcia, Rowena Rances, Angelita Sungahid and two private contractors.
The ombudsman said the respondents should explain the payment of the price escalations amounting to P507,954.55 to Gorones and P1.084 million to F.F Cruz.
Among the lapses found by a special audit team was that payment was made to F.F. Cruz for the property affected by the widening of Plaridel Extension, Mandaue causeway even if the contractor was no longer the owner of the property.
Darza said F.F. Cruz presented the receipt for the tax they paid for the affected building as evidence they owned the property.
The Mandaue City Government even helped MCDP 2 eject F.F. Cruz.
No control
Darza noted that the audit report also cited anomalies in the bidding process, but the ombudsman did not tackle this because COA did not name the persons responsible for it.
The audit, conducted in 2001, also found that the same people reviewed, recommended and approved bids for the MCDP 2, an arrangement considered irregular by a special audit team.
“The intended control did not serve its purpose,” it says.
COA also found it questionable that the MCDP 2 awarded its contracts on a per road link, instead of per package, mode, as this was done when the bids were already being opened.
“For me, there are no other people responsible for the bidding but the Pbac. And the names of its members is no secret,” he said.
“But with our system, the powerful and influential people can never be pinned down,” he also said.
Darza asked COA for a reconsideration on their disallowance, but he said this was not acted upon because the special team was already disbanded. JGS of Sun.Star Cebu
(April 3, 2003 issue)
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