For 2007 ASEAN Summit: DPWH exec charged in court over “overpriced” lampposts

CEBU, Philippines - An official of the Department of Public Works and Highways-7 is in hot water over the 300 lampposts installed along the ceremonial route of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Cebu in 2007.

After nine years, the Ombudsman found evidence to file charges against Engineer III Leah Negre who allegedly pegged at P25 million the budget approved for the contract for the lampposts.

The Ombudsman described the amount as “excessively overpriced” compared to the estimates it made and the cost evaluations of the Commission on Audit.

The Ombudsman filed a criminal complaint against Negre for allegedly violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Negre is chairperson of the DPWH Regional Estimating Committee.

In a 12-page resolution, graft investigation and prosecution officer Eileen Mae Lagat-Alde said Negre showed evident bad faith and/or gross inexcusable negligence in preparing and submitting the budget, which paved way for the purchase of the lampposts.

“Clearly, Negre, being the chairman and part of the committee, failed to determine the proper costs of the materials through a market probe,” Alde said.

Originally, on April 18, 2013, after fact finding investigation, the Ombudsman’s Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office (PACPO) included Ma. Sheila Uy, head of DPWH’s bids and award committee and technical working group, in the complaint but the subsequent formal investigation yielded no concrete proof to charge her in court.

PACPO said earlier the DPWH employees acted in bad faith when Uy prepared and submitted the post qualification report dated August 16, 2006 while Negre prepared and submitted the approved budget for the contract without verifying its details.

PACPO said the procurement of the lampposts caused the government “undue injury” amounting to P24.95 million.

In her counter-affidavit, Negre denied not studying the budget for the contract.

She said she merely relied on the program of works and estimates submitted by the Mandaue City Engineering Office and approved by the DPWH regional director since the street lighting project was the “first of its kind” to be implemented by DPWH and there was no similar document to be compare it with in preparing the contract.

Negre pointed out that the estimates of the Ombudsman were different from the findings of COA. She argued that it is too late to implicate her as additional defendant to the case since a similar case has been filed before the Sandiganbayan and, thus, would violate the rules against forum shopping.

Uy, for her part, said she was not directly or indirectly responsible for the preparation and submission of bid prices for the purchase of the lampposts.

Based on its supplemental resolution on May 4, 2009, the Ombudsman compared the program of works and estimates prepared by the Mandaue City Engineering Office, the contract price based on the bid offer of Gampik Construction and Development, and the computations made by the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit.

The Ombudsman estimated the price of the 300 sets of lampposts at P7,487, 137, which made the P25 million contract price of DPWH excessive by 233.57 percent or P17, 487, 862.

COA, on the other hand, came up with two computations of cost evaluation. Based on its cost evaluation for comparable imported lamps, the 300 lampposts were estimated at P8,745,567, an amount which is lower by P16,229,434.23 or 185.57 percent compared to the contract price of DPWH.

In its second cost evaluation, COA pegged the price at P13,943,547 for the 300 lampposts or in excess of P11,031,454.23 or 79.11 percent in variance with the contract price.

Alde held that the estimated contract price was “clearly excessive” since the amounts of computations went beyond the 10 percent price variance allowed by COA.

Alde also said Negre failed to make an independent inquiry from local sources and even through the Internet despite the overpriced cost of the lampposts.

“Although she adamantly insisted that her preparation of the approved budget for the contract was in good faith, it appears that she had all the intention of lifting the same figures and no plans in making an independent estimate,” the resolution reads.

Alde said Negre’s reliance on the project estimate of the Mandaue City Engineering Office “was deliberate and intentional, which casts doubt as to her claim of good faith.”

Alde recommended a P30,000 bail for Negre’s temporary liberty.— /JMO (FREEMAN)