COA flags Cebu City over suspended school projects

COA flags Cebu City over suspended school projects
SunStar Cebu CityIllustration by Yans Baroy
Published on

THE Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Cebu City government over two suspended school building construction projects.

The state auditor, in its 2023 Annual Audit Report, asked the City government for an explanation of the deficiencies it noted about infrastructure projects with suspension orders.

These include the two school buildings in Punta Elementary School in Barangay Punta Princesa (20.22 percent accomplished) and Don Vicente Rama Memorial Elementary School in Barangay Basak San Nicolas (25.10 percent accomplished).

COA recommended that the city mayor or his representative should refrain from granting work suspension to contractors on grounds or reasons or conditions that “should have already been considered in the Program of Works and Estimate preparation,” as this hampers the progress of the much-needed infrastructure projects.

The suspension orders were issued due to the absence of prior permits and/or the presence of obstructions/illegal structures on the construction site.

COA said these issues have significantly delayed the completion of the projects, which is not in accordance with the instructions of Presidential Decree 1870 and Republic Act 9184, raising concerns about the timely completion of the infrastructure projects.

COA said the building in Punta Princesa Elementary School was already partially paid for by P6,345,392.08 from the total of P35,666,020. 80, while the one at Don Vicente Rama Memorial Elementary School was already partially paid by P7,625,184.71 from the total of P35,666,020.80.

The contractor for the two classroom buildings is Tuanson Construction.

Eleno Andales, Punta Princesa barangay captain, said in a phone interview on Monday that the building at Punta Princesa Elementary School is already in its finishing touches.

“Suspended for use tingali, (Maybe it’s suspended for use) as of now, mao ra akong nahibaw-an (that’s the only thing I know). I have no liberty to discuss or explain until I read the COA findings,” said Andales.

SunStar tried to reach out to Norman Navarro, the barangay captain of Basak San Nicholas, but to no avail. / JPS

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