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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Ombud widens probe on Asean summit lamps
By Karlon N. Rama
With Linette C. Ramos
CEBU CITY -- The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas is expanding its fact-finding investigation on the allegedly overpriced lampposts bought and used during the Asean summit last January.
Acting Deputy Ombudsman Virginia Santiago said the probe will now include the possible involvement of Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano and other officials in the purchase of 124 lampposts installed in Mandaue City for P27,776,000.
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"We now have some documents in our custody. It is not yet complete but in the case of Mandaue, we now have the bidding documents," Santiago said in an interview Tuesday.
"Was there a bidding or were the lampposts obtained via negotiated sale? We want to establish whether the items were overpriced," she added.
Mayor Ouano, however, denied any involvement in the project, saying the bidding for the street lamps was done in Manila.
The Lapu-Lapu City's bid documents are also not yet in. But City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez and Councilor Damian Gomez said the City Government had nothing to do with the purchase.
Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong, in radio dyLA interview, said the roundhead lampposts from China used in southern town's park were bought from a Manila-based supplier at P16,000 each.
The lampposts in Naga are the same ones bought at P224,000 each for Mandaue.
To spare himself from plunder charges, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña asked Mayor Ouano and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza Tuesday to explain the alleged overpricing of streetlamps installed in their cities.
Osmeña said the two mayors will only be dragging his name into the controversy if they remain silent on the matter.
He said the City Government did not take part in the purchase of the street-lamps that were put up along the Asean summit ceremonial route last December.
"I'd like to ask Mayor Ouano and Mayor Radaza, please don't drag the name of other mayors because administration mayors appear to be very corrupt and it now appears that I may even be involved. I had nothing to do with those bloody lampposts. I didn't even know Mandaue prepared its own program of works. He (Ouano) should answer for that," he said.
Osmeña also pointed out that two months after the Asean summit, the two cities still have not come up with an accounting of their summit-related expenses.
But he will not bother to challenge them to exercise transparency where funds for the summit are concerned.
"Baga man ilang nawong oy, there's no use challenging them," he said.
Osmeña will just leave it to the anti-graft office to investigate the irregularities in the purchase of the lamps.
"I'm so embarrassed because I'm a mayor. No wonder people think I'm so corrupt also because some mayors are like that. I think people will forgive you if you make an honest mistake but increasing the price from P20,000 to P200,000, that's not a mistake. That's a crime," he said.
"The money lost is P50 million. Last year, that's death penalty, they call it plunder. Tell Ouano to stop plundering," Osmeña continued.
The possible involvement of Mandaue City officials in the controversy came up only last Monday, at a preliminary conference that Ombudsman Director Santiago called.
There, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) assistant director Marlina Alvizo said the program of works for the purchase of the 124 decorative lampposts for Mandaue City was prepared by Mandaue officials and approved by Mayor Ouano.
The 124 lampposts, set apart by their dome top and installed from the Ouano Wharf to UN Avenue, turned out to be the most expensive of them all, at P224,000 each.
Alvizo said they only endorsed the documents to the DPWH central office.
The other posts, characterized by its hat-like apex and commonly seen along the roads of Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu, only cost P85,000 and, at that price, is reportedly already grossly overpriced.
Businessman Crisologo Saavedra, together with some cause-oriented groups, filed the original complaint that led to the investigation.
Saavedra said the P224,000 lampposts in Mandaue can be bought at P11,000 from a factory in China and installed here for P31,000.
The amount, he said, already gives him a 30 percent profit.
In an earlier interview, he said the ones that cost P85,000 only cost P8,800 in China and can be installed for P24,000. This again, he said, already gives a 30 percent markup.
He has written Mayor Osmeña and declared his intent to supply both types of lampposts for the amount he quoted for use at the 295-hectare South Road Properties.
Osmeña will not volunteer to provide information to the ombudsman but he will push through with his plans to purchase at least 10 units of the same lamps installed in Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City to prove these are overpriced.
He will also buy 10 of the same kind installed in Mandaue so these can be compared with the cheaper versions within the city and Lapu-Lapu.
"If DPWH is corrupt for buying the lamps at P90,000, what does that make of them (Ouano) at P220,000 for a lamp that costs P10,000?" the mayor asked.
Naga Mayor Chiong, in an interview with radio dyLA Tuesday, confirmed Saavedra's estimates.
He said lampposts adorning a park developed over a reclaimed land in Naga are very similar to the ones found in Mandaue.
The municipality bought the lampposts at P16,000 each from a Manila-based company, after a bidding.
The posts were sourced from China.
Santiago, in the interview, said the anti-graft office will take notice of the variance but, right now, would rather focus on documentary evidence.
Among those documents already in Santiago's possession is the program of works and terms of reference for the Mandaue lampposts.
Sources inside the anti-graft office said the document tends to show that the same supplier approached for the canvassing became the same supplier who got the contract-Fabmik Construction and Equipment Corp.
Santiago would neither confirm nor deny this.
"We cannot divulge anything as of the moment because the fact-finding investigation is still ongoing. I don't want to preempt any possible outcome," she said.
She explained that a panel of investigators, headed by Associate Graft Investigator Rod Blazo, was especially formed for the evaluation of the documents.
Other than the lampposts issue, Santiago said, the panel is also been recently tasked to look into the expenses incurred by the Lapu-Lapu City Government when it hosted an event of the spouses of the visiting heads of states. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (March 7, 2007 issue)
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