CICC spending ordered probed

After initial evaluation, the Office of the Ombudsman has deemed it necessary to open an independent fact-finding probe in line with the petition of businessman Crisologo Saavedra for the anti-graft office to look into the expenses incurred in the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center.

Acting Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Santiago said yesterday Director Edgardo Canton, the head of the Ombudsman-Visayas'' Evaluation and Investigation Office, conducted a pre-evaluation on Crisologo''s letter and recommended that a fact-finding investigation be opened on the matter.

Santiago said the fact-finding team that probed the alleged overpricing of decorative lampposts used for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit will be the same team to gather evidence for its probe on the CICC. The convention center was among the main venues of the summit in January and housed the International Broadcast Center and the main briefing room for the press that covered the event.

Santiago said the probe on CICC will substantially be a continuation of their earlier probe on the lampposts considering that Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez directed them to cover all bases linked to the lamppost controversy.

In his letter to the Ombudsman, Saavedra alleged that construction expenses should not have been more than P500 million based on standard rates per square meter. Construction of the CICC amounted to P515 million.

The CICC stands at a 27,000 square-meter property at the North Reclamation Area.

Saavedra asked the anti-graft office to gather all pertinent documents such as contracts, disbursement vouchers, and bidding documents to see if there were violations against R.A. 9184 or the act providing for the modernization, standardization and regulation of the procurement activities of government.

"In lieu of the above and in fairness to DPWH, City of Mandaue and City of Lapu-Lapu, it is imperative that the investigation of the above project will also be initiated immediately by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas so as not to cast any doubt on the integrity and honesty of the government officials involved and the people to know if their tax money was wisely spent," Saavedra''s letter read.

CICC architect Manuel Guanzon berated Saavedra''s move saying the businessman is not competent to do the computations of the cost of construction as he should not have focused on the building alone but could have also looked into utilities placed therein such as the elevator and escalator, the development of the parking area and the carpeted flooring.

Guanzon further said Saavedra should have also considered that the CICC was built on structural framework steel and on a reclaimed lot.

The Ombudsman has already placed under preventive suspension Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu mayors Thadeo Ouano and Arturo Radaza and other public officials pending the formal investigation of graft charges against them relative to the procurement of the decorative lampposts.

Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez had ordered both mayors to be preventively suspended for six months after the anti-graft office''s fact-finding team here recommended that formal charges be filed against the two mayors and other top public officials. - Joeberth M. Ocao/BRP