DENR employees want Alvarez’s project probed

Employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) insisted yesterday that the lavish beautification project in front of the DENR’s main office in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City, is irregular as there was no bidding for the project.

In a statement, the DENR Employees Union (DENREU) led by its president Julie Gorospe-Ibuan said that Alvarez should show to the public whether the DENR has issued an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the second phase of the beautification of the DENR, where Alvarez claimed to have spent the rest of the P1.9 million savings of the department last year.

But Ibuan explained the DENR employees are not questioning Alvarez’s effort to beautify the DENR. "It is the process used that we are questioning which led to the granting of the contract to sculptor Jerusalino Jerry Araos. We want Alvarez to be transparent why Araos was given a negotiated contract when in fact there has been no failure of bidding because no biding has ever been conducted," Ibuan said.

Ibuan also questioned why Alvarez allowed the start of the project at exactly five days before the year 2001 ended.

Alvarez earlier maintained that there was nothing irregular in the beautification project saying that landscape was a "miniscule (amount) left over of the P22 million contingency fund of the Secretary."

He said that the contingency fund of the Office of the Secretary which is used for unprogramed or unforeseen activities of the department had a P22.090 million savings last year.

Part of the amount, according to Alvarez, was given out to DENR employees as Christmas bonus at P10,000 each in line with the directive issued by Malacañang to grant additional bonuses for government workers.

Alvarez said that after paying the additional cash gift to employees, the balance of P1.9 million was used to undertake the second phase of the beautification of the DENR office.

He said that this amount is small in contrast with the P4.6 million spent by the previous administration which only beautified the left side of the building. — Jose Rodel Clapano