Ombudsman: ASEAN Summit Lampposts Overpriced!

[chua_riwap]

Aside from those OVERPRICED PC's, eto pa isa.........

GRABE ito! Kawawa naman tayong mga taxpayers.


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Heads to Roll Over P365.8-M Lampposts Inquirer



CEBU CITY—The Ombudsman Visayas has found that there was massive overpricing in the controversial project to install street lights in three Metro Cebu cities for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders summit last January.

The investigation found that the government spent a total of P365.8 million for the lampposts and other street lighting projects in Metro Cebu for the Asean summit, not P120 million as earlier claimed by the DPWH officials here. The Ombudsman Visayas has recommended that top regional officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the mayors of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue cities, and other officials involved in the transaction be placed under preventive suspension.

An Ombudsman fact-finding committee also found that there was collusion between the winning bidders and those who prepared the program of works for the project, said Virginia Palanca-Santiago, the acting deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas. Investigator Rod Blazo, who headed the committee, said the collusion was clear because the program works and bids submitted by the winning bidders, Fabmik and Gapmik Construction, showed the identical figures.

“It is impossible that both documents would reflect the same figures,” he said. The unit price for the lampposts, which were imported from China and sold to the DPWH, was P50,000. But the lampposts actually only cost from P1,400 to P11,750, according to the fact-finding committee. The total price for the lampposts escalated from P83,000 to P224,000 after the “installation” costs were added.

Subject to investigation

The Ombudsman Visayas recommended that the following officials be investigated for graft, dishonesty or grave misconduct: DPWH Regional Director Robert Lala, Assistant Regional Director Marlina Alvizo, DPWH 7 maintenance head Pureza Fernandez and other DPWH officials involved in the signing of checks; Mandaue Mayor Thadeo Ouano and Lapu-Lapu Mayor Arturo Radaza and the officials of the engineering departments of the two cities which drew up the program of works and cost estimates.

“The committee made a recommendation for preventive suspension but we will leave that to the lawyer who will be handling the case,” Santiago said, adding that the case would be raffled on Monday to determine which Ombudsman officer would handle it. Radaza and other Lapu-Lapu City officials were included in the complaint after whistle-blower Crisologo Saavedra, the original complainant, filed another motion yesterday for their inclusion. Santiago explained that the complaint did not include Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña because the city of Cebu did not participate in the preparation of the program of works for the street lighting project.

Unlike in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities, the Cebu City government was not involved in the P800-million DPWH beautification project for the Asean summit in the four Metro Cebu cities. Osmeña decided to leave the matter entirely to the DPWH.

With the upgrading of the case, Santiago said the Ombudsman Visayas office was now a cocomplainant in the case originally filed by Bayan and Saavedra.

Separate Probe of private Resort

Santiago said there could be a separate case filed on the controversial installation of about 30 decorative lampposts in a private resort in Lapu-Lapu City. The winning bidders, Fabmik and Gampik Construction, supplied 1,800 decorative lamps installed in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu. Fabmik supplied the 450 streetlights installed in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

“The blatant violation is the bid proposal submitted by the bidder, which is the same as in the program of works, exactly the same to the last centavo. The program of works, for example, from the city government of Mandaue is the same as the bid proposal submitted by the Fabmik,” Blazo said in his report. The fact-finding investigation showed that the controversial decorative lampposts installed in three cities here for the Southeast Asian leaders summit in January did not just cost the government P120 million but P365.8 million. A DPWH document submitted to the Ombudsman Visayas showed that 724 of the 1,800 decorative lamps and 248 of the 450 streetlights were installed in Lapu-Lapu City, with the total cost reaching P174.8 million.

The same document showed that 453 decorative lamps and 202 streetlights costing P130.02 million were installed in Mandaue City and 683 decorative lamps worth P61.050 million were installed in Cebu City. The document, submitted by Lala to Acting Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan on March 12, was meant to “shed light” on the huge difference in the price of the decorative street lamps installed in Cebu City and in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities. But it only raised more questions.

Only P50,000 each

According to the DPWH documents, the lampposts, while they differed in design and height, actually cost the same: P50,000 each. The price included the cost of transport, freight and handling and the customs duties from China, the port of origin, to its destination. Furthermore, import records submitted to the Ombudsman showed that each lamppost, sold to the DPWH by the two contractors at P50,000 each, actually only cost P1,400 each in China. The unit price escalated to as much as P350,000 after the DPWH, based on the programs of works submitted by the city governments of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, added into the per unit price the installation and other so-called “indirect” costs.

Curiously, the cost for installing the same lampposts in Cebu City was at least three times lower than in Mandaue City considering that the same civil works were required in putting up the lampposts, according to the DPWH documents.

7 times higher

The cost to put up the lampposts in Mandaue City was seven times higher than that of Cebu City even if they required the same amount of civil works, according to a document prepared by the DPWH in Central Visayas. The unit cost of the electrical works for the apex-like lampposts installed in Cebu City was P8,500, the civil works, P5,500 and the indirect cost P19,250.

By contrast, the unit cost of the dome-like lampposts installed in Mandaue City required P54,511 for electrical works, P61,353 for civil works and P58,630 for indirect costs.

[kimpOy]

mahiya naman kayo!!!!

[chua_riwap]

May naligaw pang 30 lampposts sa isang PRIVATE resort. Kanino kayang resort ito?

Matindi ito. Garapalan na!

[Alpha_One]

7 times higher

The cost to put up the lampposts in Mandaue City was seven times higher than that of Cebu City even if they required the same amount of civil works, according to a document prepared by the DPWH in Central Visayas. The unit cost of the electrical works for the apex-like lampposts installed in Cebu City was P8,500, the civil works, P5,500 and the indirect cost P19,250.

By contrast, the unit cost of the dome-like lampposts installed in Mandaue City required P54,511 for electrical works, P61,353 for civil works and P58,630 for indirect costs.

The Mandaue ones must've been wired up with pure gold wires.

[oldblue]

yup these people should be lined up sa firing squad

[Gumusut_Amige]

yup these people should be lined up sa firing squad

pag nakaligtas sa firing squad ay tatadtarin na lang ng pinong-pino... mga garapal!

[mmanson]

grabeng kakapalan ng mukha..hindi na talaga nahiya..basta pera talaga oo..haaayy...

[chua_riwap]

Lampposts of Gold?


Inquirer
Mon Tulfo


The lampposts controversy in Cebu will be talked about for a long time because of the brazenness involved in the purchase. The controversy involves alleged overpricing in the lampposts by as much as 2,000 percent.

Among those linked to the scandal, my sources in Cebu told me, is Fabmik Construction and Equipment Co. Inc. It allegedly jacked up the lampposts to P300,000 each or about 2,000 percent increase over the industry rate.

In justifying the increase, Fabmik president Isabelo Braza said they installed a “special system,” and that his men worked overtime to finish the project. But my sources said no matter how one looks at it, the price of the lampposts shouldn’t cost that much.

“Baka naman gawa sa diamante ang mga ilaw nila (Perhaps their lampposts are made of diamonds),” a source said in jest. By the way Braza’s firm also supplies lampposts and similar equipment to the National Power Corp.

[mikmik316]

Ang problema sa report.... bakit hindi na-mention ang mga PANGALAN ng mga hinayupak na yan! Dapat isigaw sa mundo na mga BUWAYA sila!

[empy]

baka akala nila hindi marunong sa math yung mga taga Mandaue City

[Isuzoom]

Mga Kawatan sana lahat ng malas mapupunta sa bahay nyo!!!

[chua_riwap]

Sino kaya nag-approve ng budget nito? Di ba nila alam na from the start pa lang, questionable na yung prices nung mga lampposts?

[chua_riwap]

Hindi lang pala lampposts ang overpriced during the ASAEAN Summit, pati yung mga surveilance cameras, puro "patong" ang inabot......




P2M Per Camera for Asean Meet? Graft Probers Smell Overprice


Inquirer


CEBU CITY—Graft investigators are also looking into what could be another scam in projects related to the 12th Asean summit held here, this time involving surveillance cameras that could have cost the government at least P2 million each from a total budget of P90 million.

Virginia Palanca-Santiago, acting deputy Ombudsman, said the anti-graft office would look into allegations that the surveillance cameras installed in the cities of Cebu, Lapu-lapu and Mandaue were also overpriced. The government, through the Department of Public Works and Highways, bought 42 surveillance cameras that were installed in the Asean ceremonial routes—the streets traversed by heads of state and delegates.

The P90 million budget means that each of the 42 pieces of surveillance cameras cost the government P2.14 million each. The investigation came after Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez ordered the Ombudsman Visayas to expand the scope of its investigation to include other projects undertaken for the summit mainly by the DPWH, which received P1.5 billion for various summit beautification projects.

But it was also prompted by the claim of local businessman Crisologo Saavedra, the whistleblower in the P365-million lamppost scam, that the surveillance cameras were overpriced, too. Saavedra was, however, a losing bidder in the surveillance camera project.

His firm, Pelican/Cebesos Development Corp., lost to Manila-based Triton Communications, but he kept saying his bid was lower. He was accused of failing to deliver the cameras after winning the bid.

Investigators from the Presidential Anti Graft Commission (PAGC) were told by Philippine National Police officials in Cebu that the PNP officials have not yet signed the papers signifying that they were accepting the Triton cameras because those that have been delivered did not match specifications.

Some of the surveillance cameras, it was learned, were not functioning and some units were transferred to traffic intersections because a piece of equipment that should be used together with the cameras and pieces of radio communications has not arrived.

Though some of the cameras did not function during the Asean summit, the Department of Budget and Management still released P61 million to their supplier, Triton. Santiago said another P21 million was to be released as a second payment to the firm. Santiago said officials of the DPWH ignored several calls from Ombudsman investigators inquiring into the status of the P21 million balance payment.

“It seems they’re (DPWH officials) eluding us,” said Santiago.

She said she would ask Ombudsman Gutierrez to issue another order stopping the release of the P21 million. "We called up DBM but as of this time, there is no fund yet for the release of the P21 million. Precisely, we want to know from DPWH if they will be the one to release the fund but they were not cooperating. In view of this, we would be constrained to ask for the (cease and desist) order. It is safer that way than not knowing that 21 million would be released anytime,” Santiago said.

An official of DPWH Central Visayas, who refused to be named, confirmed that the agency already paid 80 percent of the P90 million budget for the surveillance cameras. The official said the agency would pay the remaining 20 percent after the final inspection and formal turnover of the surveillance cameras to the police regional office.

Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio, head of the police regional office, said a team from the PNP, DPWH and Commission on Audit would conduct a final inspection before the PNP formally accepts the project

[CVT]

Pagpipigtasin na ang mga ulo ng mga #$%^*& na iyan!

Lahat diyan,- overpriced!

2301:dog1:

[claRkEnt]

Hindi lang pala lampposts ang overpriced during the ASAEAN Summit, pati yung mga surveilance cameras, puro "patong" ang inabot......

no wonder Cebu is the favorite of Gloria. Di ba nga she's considering cebu as the "Malacanang in the South"...

sana man lang magkaroon ng conclusion ang kaso... puro umpisa then baon na sa limot. lusot na naman mga kumag!

[artpogi]

should we be surprised by all this overpriced thingy?