THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cebu Provincial Office will inspect the P1.153 million public toilet project in Pinamungajan on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, amid questions over its implementation timeline.
DILG Cebu Provincial Director Jesus Robel Sastrillo Jr. said the project should only have started after the local government unit (LGU) received the official Notice to Implement (NTI) on Oct. 6, 2025. However, reports indicate that construction had already begun even before that date.
“We were surprised that there was already a project when it should have been implemented only upon receipt of the notice to implement,” he said in Cebuano.
Sastrillo said DILG-Cebu has already informed Pinamungajan Mayor Glenn Baricuatro of the scheduled inspection that will bring engineers to the site to verify compliance with Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) guidelines.
Asked if they have contacted the contractor, Sastrillo said they still have not.
Meanwhile, in an interview, Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro said the listed contractor told her that his license was merely “used” and “somebody else” undertook the construction.
“The contractor was here, he personally told us that his license was used and it was somebody else who constructed the place,” Baricuatro said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
The Governor urged the DILG to verify whether proper procedures were followed.
Baricuatro first learned of the project’s cost from a Facebook post sent to her on Oct. 13. She then shared a photo of the project’s tarpaulin on her own FB page, calling the P1.153 million price tag for a toilet a figure that “demands thorough explanation.”
According to official DILG documents sent to the media, the project, a comfort room at the public beach in Barangay Tajao, is funded under the SGLG Incentive Fund amounting to P1,153,000 for Fiscal Year 2024.
Timeline
On Feb. 14, 2025, DILG Region 7 issued a memorandum directing all DILG provincial directors to prepare the requirements for the 2024 SGLG Incentive Fund, reminding LGUs that projects could only proceed after the issuance of the NTI.
On Sept. 29, DILG 7 Director Leocadio Trovela issued the NTI to Pinamungajan Mayor Glenn Baricuatro for the “Construction of Comfort Room at Public Beach, Barangay Tajao, Pinamungajan, Cebu.” The project was supposed to be completed and liquidated within 12 months upon receipt of the NTI.
About a week later, on Oct. 6, Sastrillo formally transmitted the NTI to the DILG Municipal Local Government Operations Officer in Pinamungajan, with instructions to deliver the document to the mayor.
However, when the governor visited the public toilet on Oct. 19, she discovered from writings on the project tarpaulin that construction started last June 27, with its target completion dated Aug. 20, 2025. / CDF