COA-7 starts investigation on lamppost "overpricing"

The Commission on Audit has started its investigation to find out if there was overpricing of the lampposts installed in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

COA audit team leader Alfredo Torrequemada, detailed at the Department of Public Works and Highways-7, said he already asked assistance from the COA technical office to get an evaluation of these lampposts.

Over dyLA, Torrequemada asked the public not to make any conclusion on the matter yet at this time as there is no basis yet to declare the lampposts were overpriced.

He said the result of the technical evaluation will be one of the bases of the final audit report, which will be approved by COA regional director Merenisa Codera.

To come up with more comprehensive findings, Torrequemada said they have inquired from Naga where the town officials reportedly bought similar lampposts for their plaza.

Naga Mayor Val Chiong earlier said the lampposts in his town only cost P16,000 each, which is far below the price of P224,000 for each lamppost installed in Mandaue City.

Torrequemada said the technical team already went to Naga to determine if those in Naga were of the same quality and make as those in Mandaue, Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.

He said the public might just simply conclude that these lampposts are similar, but then this should be evaluated first.

"We should be factual," he said.

Torrequemada said COA also inquired from some companies that supply lampposts, but some of them are not cooperating.

COA-7 technical service chief Allan Gajudo, said they went to Naga last week to obtain the town government's documents that stated the specifications of the town's lampposts.

They finally got the papers from the COA provincial office because Naga town had already submitted theirs to the province.

Gajudo said they will also conduct a physical inspection and counting of the lampposts in the three cities possibly on Monday.

Initial reports stated that the number of lampposts reached 1,800, around 124 of which that were installed Mandaue reportedly cost P224,000 each and the rest cost 85,000 each.

Gajudo said they will also find out the spacing or the distance between two installed lampposts.

DPWH officials earlier justified that the lampposts in Mandaue were expensive compared to those in Cebu and Lapu-Lapu cities because of their design, and the 50-meter spacing in-between lampposts unlike the 15-meter spacing in the other two cities. - Fred P. Languido/RAE