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Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Ombud freezes payment for Asean summit lamps
By Karlon N. Rama and Katrina Tabanao
CEBU CITY -- Some of the decorative lampposts that lit the streets during the Asean summit cost as much as P224,000 each, a preliminary conference at the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas revealed Monday.
There are 124 sets of these lampposts lining the streets from the Ouano wharf up to UN Avenue that leads to the Marcelo Fernan Bridge. Its distinguishing feature is a round dome at the top of the post.
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And if businessman Crisologo Saavedra is to be believed, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) bought the lampposts at that amount from a supplier called Fabmik Construction and Equipment Corp., based in Pasong Tamo, Makati City.
The total amount, when computed, reaches P27,776,000.
But the DPWH, Saavedra admitted in an interview after the hearing, cannot seem to be solely faulted because the Office of the Mandaue City Mayor prepared the program of works that led to the purchase.
In fact, Saavedra alleged someone close to Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano followed up the release of the payment.
Sun.Star Cebu is withholding the name of the official pending comment or formal inclusion in the graft investigation.
Saavedra, in a move he admitted was to show "just how blatant the overpricing was," wrote to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña Monday and offered to supply the Cebu City Government with the same lampposts for P31,000 each.
The amount, he said in the letter received by engineer Nigel Paul Villarete, City planning and development coordinator, already covers the acquisition cost, transportation from Manila to Cebu, handling and trucking, civil works, installation, cost of money, incidental expenses and a 30 percent profit.
The acquisition cost, he revealed in the letter, is only P11,000.
"Our price is based on the distributor's price from Manila with complete accessories," he said, adding that the source of the lamps will be the Zhongshan Yanxing Lighting Electronic Appliances Factory in China.
The anti-graft office launched a fact-finding investigation on the lampposts over allegations that they were bought overpriced by the DPWH.
At the start of the investigation, the anti-graft office only had one figure-P95,000-which, according to Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago in a previous interview, was already "questionably high."
Likewise, at the start of the inquiry, it wasn't known that there were two lamppost designs-the ones that cost P224,000 and the ones that line Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City streets as distinguished by its flat "hat-like" apex.
With the new information that the possible overpricing could even be higher, Santiago urged the DPWH Monday to stop payment to the contractors.
The DPWH, though, already released 85 percent of the P120-million lampposts contract to the two suppliers-Fabmik and Gampik Construction and Development Corp.-for the supply and installation of the posts in Cebu and Mandaue cities.
Only those installed in Lapu-Lapu City haven't yet been paid. This is because the papers aren't in order, DPWH Assistant Director Marlina Alvizo admitted Monday during the investigation.
The freeze-payment order also covered payments to another allegedly anomalous DPWH contract-the P90-million traffic surveillance cameras.
However, a large chunk of the P90-million contract has been paid and is now the subject of a separate plunder complaint.
Alvizo, during the hearing, said that while it was the department that conducted the bidding for the lampposts, the local chief executives of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu approved the design and the terms of reference.
Cebu and Lapu-Lapu, she said, adopted the ones proposed by the department, the ones with the hat-like apex, but Mandaue opted to prepare its own program of works that resulted in the acquisition of the more expensive ones.
Thus, she said, the ones installed in Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu were priced the same, P85,000 each. She corrected earlier reports that the posts each costs P95,000.
Saavedra, in a separate interview, said the P10,000 variance doesn't matter, as he pointed out that the actual cost per unit doesn't go higher than P8,800.
He had earlier sent the Cebu City Government a letter offering to supply the very same lampposts at P25,124 each for use at the South Road Properties.
Alvizo didn't comment on the variance but argued that the ones in Mandaue, despite costing over P224,000, weren't overpriced. The amount, she said, was even "justifiable."
She clarified that the lamps in Mandaue have a wider and longer coverage because these were designed to be spaced 50 meters apart. The ones in Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu were designed to be spaced 15 meters from each other.
Aside from this, the lamps installed at Mandaue have a "three-phase wiring."
Santiago, during the hearing, didn't seem convinced.
"I saw it and for me, it is just decorative," she quipped.
Responding to Santiago's questioning, DPWH Regional Director Roberto Lala disclosed that it was the National Organizing Committee of the 12th Asean Summit that proposed the installation of the lampposts.
Lala said the installation was even an "additional task" on their part because their mandate only covers maintenance and building of roads and bridges. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (March 6, 2007 issue)
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