ANGELES City mayoralty candidate requested the Commission on Audit (COA) to look into the propriety of the transactions arising from the controversial P1-billion loan of this local government unit to construct a new city hall and sports complex “without the existence of effective ordinances.”
Alex Cauguiran, the official candidate of Kambilan for city mayor, along with his group requested the office of resident city auditor Grace Tan to investigate “city hall transactions involving hundreds of millions from the loans” released by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
A copy of the said letter was also sent to COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo and regional director Lynn Sycangco along with other key officials of COA.
“Allow us to walk the talk as we’ve been explaining to thousands of Angeleños that officials responsible for this mess must face the consequences of their actions,” Cauguiran said in a recent briefing with media.
He added that his group has decided with this course of action “as a matter of party principles of integrity, transparency, and accountability in local governance.”
The other signatories of the COA letter were Maricel Morales, the party’s candidate for vice mayor, Rodelio Mamac, barangay chairman of Balibago; candidates Andronico Pahed, Edward Laki and Harvey Santiago who are running for councilor, along with reelectionist city councilors Jesus Sangil and Jae Flores.
The controversy stemmed from the alleged failure of incumbent Vice Mayor Bryan Nepomuceno to cause the publication of both the appropriation ordinance and another ordinance for the ratification of the terms and conditions of the loan agreement.
“The vice mayor may cry all day long that our move is pure politicking but let us be clear. Nepomuceno has failed to have (these ordinances) published prior to the bidding of the infrastructure projects,” Cauguiran claimed.
“Again, Nepomuceno seeks higher office and yet fails to admit the series of blunders he has caused that made the construction of the two multi-million infrastructure projects highly questionable,” he added.
Cauguiran, a former city hall chief-of-staff, said that in the case of the sports complex, the date for the submission of the Letter of Intent (LOI) to bid was set from September 5, 2018 to September 25, 2018, the same day of the opening of bids.
The new city hall’s date for the submission of the LOIs was reset from October 23 to November 13, 2018, according to him.
Appropriation Ordinance No. 325, S-2018 that provided funding for the two infrastructure projects enacted on July 27, 2017, and Appropriation Ordinance No. 324, S-2017 for the approval and ratification of the two term loans from the DBP enacted on July 25, 2018 were published simultaneously in a local newspaper only on November 28, 2018, he said.
“It is very clear that the enabling ordinances were not yet in effect as these were not published as required by law, even as the city government through its bids and awards committee (BAC) proceeded to accept LOIs to bid and subsequently to open the bids for the two projects,” Cauguiran explained.
Section 59 (d) of the Local Government Code of 1991 requires that ordinances and resolutions of highly urbanized cities should be published in a local newspaper of general circulation within the city, or in its absence, a newspaper of general circulation.
A former airport executive, Cauguiran is widely known for his results-oriented managerial skills and is credited with the increase in flights, destinations and revenues at the Clark International Airport.