An administrative failure during the 2025 leadership transition left P9.6 million in public works projects missing mandatory procurement paperwork, forcing the Capitol to freeze contractor payments.
The Provincial Legal Office is preparing to submit investigation findings to the Office of the Ombudsman to file graft complaints against Capitol employees, while a private complainant will file a separate case with the National Bureau of Investigation.
To prevent future record breakdowns, the administration reconstituted the Bids and Awards Committee under Executive Order 7, instituted public live-streams of bidding sessions, and involved third-party observers in monitoring procurement.
AN ADMINISTRATIVE failure during the 2025 leadership transition left P9.6 million in public works projects missing mandatory paperwork, forcing the Capitol to freeze contractor payments and prepare graft complaints.
The paper trail gap
Capitol employees face potential graft charges as the Provincial Legal Office prepares to submit its investigation findings to the Office of the Ombudsman. The inquiry targets 15 infrastructure projects that lack essential procurement documents.
The legal review follows a July 2025 directive from Gov. Pamela Baricuatro ordering an audit of 20 flagged payables. By September 2025, the Provincial Engineering Office issued suspension orders across affected projects. Search efforts in back-office storage and transport vans recovered paperwork for five contracts, but 15 projects remain unresolved.
Four of these contracts account for P9.6 million in public funds. Three project folders came back completely blank, containing zero procurement records. These include P580,000 for 112 lamp post units across Asturias, Barili, Carmen and Toledo City; P2.4 million for 466 lamp post pedestals in Balamban and Toledo City; and P4.7 million for road shoulder concreting in Aloguinsan. A single contractor holds both lamp post contracts. A fourth project, a P1.9 million road concreting job in Balamban, was located but is missing multiple required files. Another 11 projects face minor administrative gaps involving missing performance bonds, Department of Labor and Employment clearances, Contractor’s All Risk Insurance, or missing clearance attachments.
Inspectors confirmed the missing files do not involve “ghost” projects. Physical site checks with provincial engineers verified that several of the structures are already built.
A transition without records
The missing files stem from a failure to conduct an administrative turnover when the current leadership assumed office in mid-2025. Ahead of the June 30 transition deadline that year, Baricuatro warned that former governor Gwendolyn Garcia’s team refused to hand over governance files, procurement records and financial ledgers, threatening delays in provincial operations.
When the incoming procurement team assumed duties, they inherited disarranged archives without handoff documentation.
“When Gov. Pam took office, there was no proper turnover. So, when the current BAC took office, they were given the documents as is,” Assistant Legal Counsel Romielyn Macalinao said in a mix of Cebuano and English during a press conference on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026.
Macalinao explained that current staff had to bring back former Secretariat personnel to navigate the disarranged archiving system. “There was no formal ceremonial turnover. Nothing was signed and the former BAC didn’t specify what was existing. There was really no proper turnover like that. So they were left with them, they had to search themselves, which prompted this investigation,” she said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Former staff members received access to back offices to find missing folders. “The former secretariats were given the opportunity to dig through them because they are familiar with how they arranged and organized the documents there. They were really in the hidden corners. They were just disarranged, which made it very difficult for the current BAC,” she said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Financial fallout for local suppliers
Because contracts lacking basic procurement records are legally null and void under Republic Act 9184, the Capitol has frozen payments to contractors on all 15 unresolved projects. Submitting incomplete files to the Commission on Audit (COA) risks formal audit disallowances.
“Those were not forwarded to COA because of the lacking documents. Again, we cannot transmit to COA because it would be disallowed. That’s what we’re avoiding. And the Province cannot pay either because it was not transmitted to COA,” Macalinao said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
The payment freeze comes as the administration clears older backlogs. By late August 2026, the Capitol settled P63 million in back payables dating from 2018 through 2025 for catering services, scholarships, infrastructure, professional fees and university commitments.
In a radio interview, Baricuatro noted that unpaid bills heavily burdened small and medium enterprises. “Daghan kaayo na… even catering, no,” Baricuatro said. “Daghan kaayong luoy… naay uban nga naundang gyud ang ilang negosyo.”
(“There are so many... even catering... So many unfortunate cases... some even had their businesses close down.”)
The governor stated that only claims supported by verified documentation are being paid. “Because there are projects executed without going through bidding. How can we pay if there are no proper documents? We only paid those supported by documents, because otherwise we would be in trouble with COA if there are no supporting documents,” Baricuatro said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
What comes next
The Province is pursuing a dual legal strategy. The Provincial Legal Office is finalizing its report to refer former procurement personnel to the Office of the Ombudsman for graft and corruption charges. Separately, a private complainant representing the legal office’s consultant will file a complaint with the National Bureau of Investigation.
The deadline for the concerned Capitol employees and contractors to submit missing records expired last Friday, Sept. 11, and officials confirmed no further extensions will be granted. The Capitol has withheld the names of the individuals under investigation to protect privacy rights and avoid preempting legal proceedings before case numbers are assigned by the Ombudsman.
To prevent similar record breakdowns, the administration reconstituted the Bids and Awards Committee through Executive Order 7 and instituted public live-streams of all bidding sessions. Provincial Administrator Joseph Felix “Ace” Durano stated that third-party observers — including representatives from COA, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Budget and Management and civil society groups — now monitor procurement procedures to enforce compliance before contracts reach the governor’s desk for signature. / CDF