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Saturday, September 27, 2003
Prov'l engr. denies flaw in projects awarding
By Minerva Zamora-Arceo
SAN FERNANDO CITY -- The provincial engineer denied reports Thursday of alleged irregularities in the awarding of P100 million worth of infrastructure projects in the province.
In a statement Thursday, Provincial Engr. Juanito Macatuno said all the projects implemented by the province were above board.
"With due respect to Board Members Robert David and Joseller Guiao, all they need to do is look at the records of these projects which are available either at the Accounting Department or at the provincial office of the Commission on Audit (COA)," Macatuno said.
Currently, the Provincial Board (PB) is conducting a probe on the alleged irregularities criticized by several qualified contractors in the province.
The contractors claimed that some P100 million worth of infrastructure projects were all done under negotiated contracts and as emergency projects.
They accused the executive department of allegedly playing favorites and awarded these negotiated contracts to selected contractors close to the governor.
Macatuno also stressed that it was the PB itself, of which David and Guiao are members, which passed resolutions providing for the implementation of several projects through negotiated contracts.
But Macatuno said the executive's function in this case is only ministerial.
"Why point an accusing finger to the Governor, when in fact his approval of the resolutions was mainly ministerial in nature? If there is anybody to be investigated, it should be the PB members themselves who passed the resolutions," Macatuno said.
In the past three PB committee hearings on the contractors' complaint, Guiao expressed disappointment and opted to verbally resign as chair of the PB committee on public works after Macatuno and other Capitol department heads failed to attend the hearings.
Macatuno reasoned that he did not attend because he said the invitation should have been addressed to the Governor.
"Besides, if there is any body who has the rightful authority to question the legality of projects awarded by the Provincial Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC) and implemented by my office, it should be the Internal Control Office of the province and/or the COA," he said.
Macatuno also said that no hearing pushed through last Monday, September 21, because there was no quorum. Only two members, David and Guiao, out of 12 PB members, were present.
Meanwhile, accusing David of "cheap grandstanding," Provincial Administrator Benalfre J. Galang also challenged the board member to produce documents that will prove allegations of irregularities in the awarding and implementation of infrastructure projects.
"He should put his money where is boisterous mouth is. Without any document to prove of any anomaly, his pronouncements are nothing but wild and crazy blabbering," Galang said. "It was perhaps because of the lack of solid basis for the purported contractors' complaint that most of the PB members are uninterested in the hearing.
"The truth of the matter was that since his assumption into office he has been trying to corner lucrative contracts, even to the extent of threatening the executive department of delaying approval of the budget if he didn't get what he wanted," Galang said.
"We know for a fact that it was David himself, who instigated the contractors to file a complaint with the PB. Only a few legitimate contractors signed the complaint, the rest of the signatures were either forged or belonged to contractors not accredited by the province. That is why if you look at the complaint, it was not notarized," Macatuno said.
(September 26, 2003 issue)
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