Capitol won’t pay Balili contractor

CEBU, Philippines - The Provincial Government will not pay the construction company that supplied the back-filling materials for the controversial Balili property.

This was after the recommendation of the provincial legal officer, Atty. Orvi Ortega, not to release the payment worth P6, 881,440.10 forwarded to the accounting office of the Capitol.

“This office strongly recommends to cancel the disbursement voucher and not to pay the claim of Supreme ABF Construction and Construction Supply Company, Inc.,” said Ortega, who cited two reasons in his letter to Provincial Accountant Marieto Ypil.

Ortega pointed out the lack of Provincial Board approval of a budget for the back filling as basis for his recommendation.

He noted the Commission on Audit’s annual audit report which stated: “should the appropriation ordinance, for instance, already contain in sufficient detail the project and cost of a capital outlay such that all that the local chief executive needs to do after undergoing the requisite public bidding is to execute contract, no further authorization is required, the appropriation ordinance already being sufficient. On the other hand, should the appropriation ordinance describe the projects in generic terms such as infrastructure projects, inter municipal waterworks, drainage, and sewerage, flood control, or road and bridges, there is an obvious need for covering a contract for very specific project that in turn requires approval by the Sanggunian.”

It further added that an approval from the Board would be needed for the purchase of goods and services which are not specified in the appropriation ordinance or categorized under regular personal services and maintenance operating services.

With this, Ortega said that the supply and delivery of the back-filling materials by Supreme ABF Construction and Construction Supply Company, Inc. was done without the mandatory approval.

Further, “the lot where the back filling activity was done is the controversial “Balili” lot property which is now the subject matter of several cases being faced by former Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.”

Ortega said in his recommendation that the back-filling could be considered “as in the nature of tampering evidence as the entire “Balili” lot property is the root cause of bone contention in the cases mentioned.”

Governor Hilario Davide III said he has yet to see the recommendations of Ortega but said that given the lack of the PB approval and the legality of the Balili property, which he said is his main complaint, the company would not be paid as stated in the Local Government Code.

Davide, along with Vice Governor Agnes Magpale and Provincial Board member Arleigh Sitoy, filed the case against former governor Garcia for allegedly bypassing the PB and not seeking authority to sign a contract with the construction company.

Apart from Garcia, 11 others have been included in the complaint for the backfilling, including the president and general manager of Supreme ABF Construction Supply Company, Bernabe Gilbor.

The Capitol has a number of payables pending and officials have yet to determine if they would be paid, depending on the review of the vouchers and contracts and if these have gone through the Provincial Board.

Also, considering the insufficient Capitol funds earlier reported, the payables have been meticulously reviewed in the past few months.

Ypil confirmed though that there is money supposedly for the payment of the construction company but its disbursement depends on the legal opinion and recommendation of the Provincial Attorney and of Davide./JPM  (FREEMAN)