DPWH-7 officials blaming Ebdane

Regional officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are pointing their fingers at former DPWH now Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane as the person to blame for the installation of the alleged overpriced decorative lampposts inside a resort in Lapu-Lapu City.

Two DPWH regional officials, who were called to a conference relative to the ongoing investigation conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas on the alleged overpricing of the lampposts, clarified that it is not also true that it is already a done deal because the government has not yet totally paid the contractor contrary to what the Department of Budget and Management has reported.

DPWH assistant regional director Marlina Alvizo and regional attorney Agustinito Hermoso told acting Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca Santiago that it was Ebdane, who ordered the installation of the 30 decorative lampposts costing P85,000 each inside the premises of Porto Fino Beach Resort.

"We were just following instructions from the secretary," Hermoso said.

Although, they were aware that it is a private property, Hermoso said it is beyond their authority to refuse a directive from the secretary with a marginal note from Ambassador Marciano Paynor, who was the secretary general and chairman of the Cebu Organizing Committee of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit last January.

Hermoso however said that before the lampposts were installed they entered into a memorandum of agreement with the management of the resort that permanent improvement in the area will serve as part of the rentals while removable structures will be taken back by the government.

According to Hermoso, among the improvements that could be removed are the decorative lampposts, which he said they will be uprooting as soon as possible. Hermoso said that Porto Fino is only one of the venues that the government rented during the summit. The other areas include the abandoned Uniwide building at the North Reclamation Area, Shangri La and the Gaisano Parking lot.

When asked what the DPWH will do with the decorative lampposts from Porto Fino, Hermoso said they might negotiate with the contractor to just return it. Hermoso said they could also be donated to the local government unit of Lapu-Lapu.

"We will make representation to the contractor nga amo nalang nang i-uli or may be we will donate it to the LGU," Hermoso told Santiago.

Alvizo said that the lampposts installed in Lapu-Lapu City are not yet paid by the government, because it is already part of the second phase, which does not have any fund allocation yet. Hermoso's claim belies the DBM observation that the controversial project could already be a done deal.

Alvizo said that it is not true that they have already paid the contractor, Fabmik Construction, of the total amount of the contract. She explained that what the government has paid is only 85 percent of the P120 million total cost of phase one or P102,000,000. This covers 360 pieces of decorative lampposts in Cebu City, 389 in Mandaue City and another 140 street lighting facilities in Mandaue City, which costs as much as P350,000 each.

Alvizo, however said, that P3.1 million of the amount is being retained to cover for the maintenance and defects of the projects.

Alvizo said that the remaining 15 percent of phase one is not yet paid including the entire cost for the phase two. She however could not yet reveal how much is the total cost for phase, but she said it is higher compared to the first phase.

The Ombudsman discovered that the project is being implemented by phases, because of the discrepancy they noted between the actual inventory of the lampposts and street lighting facilities and the contract. Santiago said that they found out that based on the contract submitted to them there are only 350 decorative lampposts installed in Cebu City however the actual inventory reached up to 650. Alvizo explained that there is still another contract that they have not yet submitted to the Ombudsman.

DPWH officials assured Santiago that they will withhold the balance, but they are also asking a formal directive from the anti-graft body. Santiago said that she needs to fly to Manila to explain the situation to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierez and will ask her to issue a hold order.

Santiago said that there was an incident before where then Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo ordered to hold the payment of a government project subject of an investigation. Santiago explained that it is important that any additional payment to the contractor should be withheld pending the completion of the investigation to prevent the government from incurring additional losses.

The Ombudsman is currently conducting a fact-finding investigation into the alleged overpricing in the decorative lampposts and street lighting facilities installed for the ASEAN summit.-(/NLQ)