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Saturday, September 22, 2007
Ombud to look into Lapu computer ‘scam’
CEBU CITY -- The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas is giving due course to the anti-graft complaint lodged against Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and other individuals on the purchase of 470 allegedly overpriced computers for public schools in 2005.
Some Lapu-Lapu City officials have questioned the motives of the complainant, Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) president Efrain Pelaez, and the legal personality of his Coralpoint Educational Foundation Inc. to file a suit.
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Pelaez wants the city officials placed under preventive suspension. He is also willing to wait for one year and then initiate a recall petition against Radaza to remove him as mayor.
But, as far as legal personalities go, it is the Lapu-Lapu City Government that may have to explain why it chose to transact with Kein Enterprises as large a contract as the purchase of P23,476,500 worth of personal computers.
Radaza and his co-respondents also have to explain why the computers received from Kein and certified as “inspected” by its inspectors were found to be inferior to the ones specified, using Celeron instead of Pentium 4 processors, as noted in the Commission on Audit (COA) observation memo dated August 16, 2006.
And this is on top of Pelaez’s original allegation that the bid from Kein Enterprises, which the respondents accepted as the “lowest calculated responsive bid,” cost P49,500. That’s double the cost of similar units—with some going for P19,100—advertised in the same issue of Sun.Star Cebu where the City’s invitation to bid was published.
Unqualified?
Based on Kein Enterprises 2005 and 2006 records, kept at the Cebu City Treasurer’s Office, Kein Enterprises, whose business office was allegedly traced back to an unmarked apartment in Barangay Apas, Cebu City, has a capital investment of P30,000. Its gross sales for 2004 and 2005 didn’t reach P5 million per annum.
However, it was allowed to participate in the bidding for a contract with an approved budget of P25 million.
Section 23 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 9184, the Government Reform Procurement Act, sets the track record as among the most important requirements a firm must have before it can transact business with a government agency.
According to the rule, the firm must have previously entered into a similar contract involving at least half of the amount mentioned in the new contract it wants to bid on, before it can be deemed qualified to submit a bid.
For Kein Enterprises to have qualified for the bidding, it must have at least supplied P12.5 million worth of computers to some other client or government agency.
Authorized
As far as the legal personality of Coralpoint to file a suit is concerned, Section 15 of Republic Act (RA) 6770, the Ombudsman Act of 1989, grants to the anti-graft office the power to investigate and prosecute “on its own or on complaint by any person” any anomaly or controversy in public office.
Who may file complaints? Section 26 of the same statute states that the anti-graft office is tasked to accept “complaints from any source in whatever form.”
Impleaded in the charge are Radaza, City Attorney Vincent Joseph Lim, City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez, Assistant City Engineer Fernando Tagaan, City Budget Officer Victoria Andoy, City Treasurer Elena Pacaldo, Legal Officer Michael Dignos, Maria Guiao of the Procurement Office, Technical Working Group members Cipriano Flores, Maribeth Sorono, Rogelio Veloso, Sharon Baguio Buenaventura Igot and Jerico Mercado.
Likewise included are Leandro Dante, Ernesto Imbong and Rogaciano Tampos, inspectors at the Office of the City Accountant, Treasurer and General Services Office, respectively; Lapu-Lapu City Schools Superintendent Serena Uy; and one Jennet Valencia, manager of Kein Enterprises.
Assistant City Attorney Michael Dignos earlier questioned Coral Point’s legal personality to institute a suit, saying it isn’t even registered and recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He and City Attorney Lim said the complaint was motivated by malice and that Pelaez is only seeking revenge over the disapproval of his permit to develop a property in Punta Engaño.
‘A sham’
Pelaez, for his part, said the fact that Kein Enterprises got the award shows that the whole bidding was a sham. He traced back the timeline of the purchase to point out how the mayor and his co-respondents carried it out with undue haste.
Based on the complaint, Uy requisitioned 470 computers at P50,000 in a purchase request she accomplished on February 8, 2005.
On the same day, Guiao signed a certification that the prevailing market price for personal computers was indeed P50,000. Pacaldo also certified on the face of the purchase request that the funds for the transaction were available.
Radaza signed and approved the procurement also on the same day.
“It is very obvious that the preparation of the purchase request, the fixing of the unit cost estimate and the approval thereof were either hastily done without a thorough and extensive survey of the prices of computers offered by suppliers in Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City and Cebu City, which is a clear case of gross negligence,” Pelaez said. (KNR of Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (September 22, 2007 issue)
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