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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
P44.85M worth of Asean summit lamps found
By Karlon N. Rama and Aledel G. Cuizon
CEBU CITY -- The controversy over the allegedly overpriced decorative lampposts bought for the Asean summit has intensified, with the anti-graft office recently discovering 150 more units priced at over P300,000 each.
Based on the contract between the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the supplier, the units have a total value of P44.85 million and are installed along the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), from Plaridel to Seno Sts., in Mandaue City and from the Ouano Ave. to A. Soriano St., again in Mandaue City.
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The existence of the 150 units—the most expensive sets so far compared to the ones installed in Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu and along the Ouano wharf to the UN Ave. in Mandaue City—was among the things discovered during the four-hour ocular inspection by the anti-graft office last Monday.
Among the other findings reached was that many of the lampposts are already damaged and that some 30 units can be found inside Portofino, a private resort in Lapu-Lapu City.
“We will subpoena Mayor (Arturo) Radaza in Lapu-Lapu and find out if the ones we found in the private lot form part of the lampposts supplied for the city,” Acting Deputy Ombudsman Virginia Santiago said Tuesday.
The anti-graft office will hold a conference today between people from the Department of Budget and Management and the Commission on Audit to discuss the case.
For its part, the Mandaue City Council urged key departments in City Hall to provide more information to clarify the alleged overpricing.
Transparency
During its regular session Tuesday, the Mandaue City Council approved the resolutions of Councilors Jonas Cortes and Carlo Pontico Fortuna regarding the matter.
Citing the need for transparency, Cortes authored a resolution requesting acting City Engineer Hidelisa Latonio and City Administrator Serafin Blanco to furnish the City Council with a comprehensive report about the purchase price of the lampposts.
The report is supposed to enlighten the City Council of the actual participation of the City in the preparation and approval of the program of works and the purchase of the lampposts.
In his resolution co-authored by Councilor Glenn Bercede, Cortes said that an official report from the concerned offices would “reveal important details about the project.”
Cortes and Bercede are running for mayor and vice mayor this year.
For his part, Fortuna asked the offices of Latonio and Blanco to fully cooperate with the Office of the Ombudsman in the ongoing investigation regarding the lampposts.
Fortuna, who is also running for vice mayor, said the alleged overpricing of the lampposts has “practically tarnished the image of the City.”
“It is equally imperative that the investigation shall proceed with dispatch but with utmost diligence and prudence by focusing on information that is relevant and correct rather than on hearsay or secondary information considering that some sectors have prejudged the City,” stated Fortuna’s resolution.
Parallel look
The resolution further urged the ombudsman to “act with dispatch” in the investigation to determine the alleged overpricing and if established, “to determine the entities, agencies and persons involved and clear those who are not.”
Fortuna also asked the City Engineer’s Office to conduct a “parallel inquiry” to get the facts and “help enlighten the constituency of Mandaue.”
The alleged overpricing of the lampposts installed along the ceremonial route of Asean summit delegates has been hounding the Mandaue City Government in recent weeks.
Latonio, in a press conference, has admitted that her office made the program of works and estimates for the lampposts after a request from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
During that press conference, Fortuna showed to the media the estimates that Latonio’s office prepared.
However, reporters weren’t given a copy of the document. Only a photocopy of the portion of the document that bore the signatures of City and DPWH officials was distributed.
Stop payment
In an interview Tuesday, the anti-graft office’s Santiago said she wants to find a way to suspend payment to the contractor responsible for the supply and installation not only of the 150 newly discovered lampposts, but also for all decorative lampposts bought for the summit.
The contract covering the 150 newly discovered units, signed between DWPH Assistant Directors Gloria Dindin and Pureza Fernandez and Isabelo Braza of the Fabmik Construction and Equipment Corp., describes the units as single, double and triple-arm lampposts.
Each model comes with a different price tag that, if computed, can come up to P44,849,999, including installation costs.
The single-arm units are worth P314,698.33 each and there are 78 of them. The double-arm units, meanwhile, come at P325,916.69 and there are 58 of them.
But the most expensive are the triple-arm units at P350,090.48. There are only four of them.
Interviewed over radio dyLA, DPWH information officer Marie Nillama said the agency will submit itself to the anti-graft investigation and submit whatever document the investigators need.
She stressed that all contracts entered into by the agency, including those for the newly discovered units, are above-board.
Costing
The lampposts that have been damaged or those that haven’t been set up property will be taken care of by the supplier, she added.
But other than the DPWH, the newly discovered units are another thing Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano needs to explain.
Not only were the units found in Mandaue City but, according to a source inside the anti-graft office’s fact-finding team, city officials again prepared the program of works and estimates (POWE) for the purchase.
“It was contained in another document,” an anti-graft office source said, referring to that previous POWE also prepared by Mandaue City.
That other POWE, which bore the signatures of Mayor Ouano and Acting City Engineer Latonio, covered the purchase of 124 round-head units lined up along the Ouano wharf to UN Ave. and which cost P224,000 each.
The anti-graft office has established that the round-head models, the ones bought for P224,000 each, only cost P11,000 in China.
According to a quotation submitted by an independent supplier to the Cebu City Government, these can be brought into the country and installed at the South Reclamation Properties for a little over P30,000 each. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (March 14, 2007 issue)
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