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Friday, January 13, 2006
Pinatubo management has to finish work on the turnover issue: ex-exec
By Albert B. Lacanlale and Reynaldo G. Navales
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- A former official of the Pinatubo Project Management Office (PPMO) has finally come out to break the deafening silence over the fate of the body which closed shop five months ago.
Rodrigo Bermudez, former PPMO director for operations, said the body, which inherited the reigns from the defunct Mount Pinatubo Commission (MPC) is mandated to its tasks for Pinatubo beneficiaries.
On Aug. 31, 2005, by virtue of a memorandum order issued by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), PPMO's mother agency, the Pinatubo body wrapped up its operation.
The HUDCC said the closure of the PPMO, which was instrumental in the resolution of the mode of conveyance of 49,000 house and lot awards to Pinatubo resettlement beneficiaries, "is necessary in view of the clear absence of any legal basis to execute the contract of service of PPMO personnel."
The operation of the PPMO, which was created by virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 6, was funded from the unutilized funds recovered from the different implementing agencies of MPC.
Mandate
Bermudez said the creation of the PPMO, based on another Executive Order (EO) 54, directs the HUDCC to adopt the MPC Task Force, which followed MPC, into the PPMO. The newly created office would then be an attached agency of the HUDCC.
"With this legal basis, the continuation of functions and duties of the PPMO is not merely a toleration but rather a mandate from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Since the projects of the PPMO have yet to be completed, the agency is still mandated by law to continue such projects until their eventual completion," he said.
In addition, he contests that all assets and properties of the PPMO transferred from MPC by virtue of EO 6 cannot be legally transferred to any government agency without an executive authorization.
The former PPMO official said the issue on the turnover is left hanging with the Pinatubo victims still uncertain if the agency, which has helped them in the past would be re-organized so they could continue to avail of the PPMO services.
"They are now calling on the attention of President Arroyo to intercede and decide for PPMO's reorganization or re-strengthen the position of the National House Authority (NHA)-PPMO Ad Hoc Office," he said.
The ad hoc office, due to the absence of an executive order from the President, remains skeletal in nature although it has been tasked to act as caretaker of the Pinatubo resettlement sites, in compliance to the HUDCC directives, Bermudez said.
Financial problem
The PPMO, Bermudez said, started to encounter financial difficulties to sustain its operation in January 2005, and worsened the following month, disabling the body to issue contracts of work to its 121 personnel.
"However, on the basis of the principle of quantum merit, payment of the services of its personnel for February was made in three trenches, completed in July when the PPMO recovered funds from Pampanga Electric Cooperative (Pelco) II," he said.
But in the succeeding five months after that, the PPMO failed to recover funds and, as austerity measures, trimmed its personnel down to 106 and implemented a two-week forced leave for office-based staff.
However, Bermudez said those who rendered their services for the five months did not receive any compensation but still religiously reported to work, even without the benefit of a work contract.
Suggested measures
Alarmed by the situation, the personnel wrote Vice President Noli de Castro, HUDCC chairman, requesting for the issuance of a work contract to personnel; signing of a proposed executive order by the President; and availment of a contingency fund to cover the unpaid five-month salaries.
The proposed executive order submitted to the President suggests the implementation of a collection scheme from illegitimate occupants of resettlement housing units.
The order also proposed the attachment of the PPMO to the NHA under a "trusteeship agreement" to operate for a maximum period of five years to complete its remaining tasks.
"The collection proceeds shall be primarily used to fund the remaining survey and documentary requirements, resettlement improvement/maintenance works, including administration and supervision," Bermudez said.
But instead of getting positive response to their requests, the HUDCC sent the memorandum that ordered the PPMO closure.
In the same memorandum, the HUDCC instructed NHA General Manager Federico Laxa to "facilitate the immediate implementation of a plan for the take-over by the NHA of the functions of the PPMO to ensure continuity of the project."
As of August 31 of last year, the PPMO was able to effect the transfer of 9,664 land titles to individual beneficiaries since 2002. It also completed the development of two additional lowland sites in San Isidro, Magalang and Acli in Mexico.
Moreover, the PPMO initiated the establishment of one upland relocation community in Bacao, Palayan City and utilized buildable areas in the existing sites of Pandacaqui, Madapdap, Sta. Lucia and Bulaon by constructing 4,150 housing units for the remaining Pinatubo family-victims.
(January 13, 2006 issue)
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