After corrections were made payments pushed for defective barangay projects

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Engineering and Public Works has recommended for payment the projects undertaken by E.M. Arante Construction that were earlier found with minor defects after corrections have been made.

Engr. Juanito P. Pua, who inspected Arante’s works, said that all corrections have been made and passed the necessary inspection and testing.

Among the projects that were recommended for payments are in barangays Sudlon I, Sudlon II and Bonbon.

The road concreting project in Sudlon II is worth P2,997,405.95. Pua said they have conducted coring test for thickness determination and the strength test.

For all road concreting projects, Arante Construction has commissioned EB Testing Center Inc., an accredited testing center. Pua said they were at the site during the test.

The same procedure was conducted with the road concreting projects in Sudlon I and Bonbon.

The concreting project in Sudlon I is also worth about P2.9 million while the other projects that comprise the Sudlon I cluster project, mostly Community Micro Assistance Project like construction of the reservoir and renovation of the multi-purpose building, cost about P500,000.

In Bonbon, meanwhile, the road concreting and the construction of canal were already cleared of deficiencies and were also certified as 100 percent accomplished by the engineering office but Pua said, Enrique Arante, owner of Arante Construction, would prefer to get the payment when it has already finished the last component of the project which is the barangay hall.

The Bonbon cluster project, which comprises the road concreting, the construction of canal and the construction of the barangay hall, is worth P2.145 million.

Pua said that aside from the projects that were earlier found with minor defects, they also recommended for payments the other projects undertaken by the same contractor in Barangay Sapangdaku.

Though the projects in Sapangdaku were done well, he said that the accounting office has required the barangays to get a certification from the DEPW that the projects have been inspected by city engineers.

The cluster projects in Sapangdaku, which consisted of the repair of the riprap, lighting of the basketball court, footpath, pathways, painting of the barangay hall and construction of the ceiling for the multi-purpose building, all amounted to P477,000.

Lawyer Dominic Diño, the secretariat of the four-man committee investigating the alleged irregularity in the implementation of projects in the barangays, said that as long as the contractor has already corrected the projects, there is no reason to delay the payment even if there is a pending investigation.

He said that when the defects were discovered, it is still within the warranty period so the contractor just has to correct the defects and nothing else.

The barangays only need the certification from the DEPW that all projects found with deficiencies has been corrected before it can release the payment to the contractor.

The funds used to implement the projects came from the aid of the city to the barangays. The funds were turned over to the barangays for them to directly pay the contractor.

After the issue on alleged irregularity in the implementation of the projects, the city accounting office now requires all barangay projects to undergo inspection from the DEPW before the contractors can be paid. – (FREEMAN)