Ombudsman fires 2 Negros engineers in bridge anomaly
BACOLOD CITY: Two engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 3rd Engineering District in Negros Occidental were dismissed from the service after the Ombudsman found them guilty of grave misconduct in connection with allegedly anomalous rehabilitation of two bridges.
Ordered dismissed were Haydee Alunan, officer- incharge district engineer, and Elsie Sabay, OIC- assistant district engineer, in connection with alleged anomalies in the rehabilitation of Mabua bridge in Barangay Poblacion and Bagambayan bridge in Barangay Tiling, both in Cauayan, Negros Occidental.
Alunan and Sabay their civil service eligibility stripped and their retirement benefits forfeited
They were also perpetually disqualified from holding public office and barred from taking the civil service examination.
If eventually separated from the service, the penalty of dismissal is convertible to a fine equivalent to their one- year salary, the Ombudsman said.
It was found upon investigation that on February 10, 2014, the respondents started the rehabilitation of the bridges by issuing Notices to Proceed in favor of OPELL Construction and Development Corp.
But the Field Investigation Office, in an inspection on December 3, 2015, found that both bridges were unfinished.
Alunan admitted that the projects were not completed on time because of intervening factors such as removal of water pipelines attached to railings of the bridges and relocation of electrical posts and heavy rains and flooding, among others.
But “during the implementation stage, respondents allowed the contractor to continue working on the project despite poor performance/ accomplishment and unreasonable delay of the contractor in the projects. They allowed the contractor to collect full payment thereafter with understated penalty/ liquidated damages. As shown in the disbursement vouchers, the contractor was not made to pay for the unreasonable delay of each project of at least 562 days. Thus, the amount of liquidated damages was apparently understated and respondents clearly gave unwarranted benefits, advantage o preference
to the contractor in violation of law,” a resolution said.
The dismissal order from the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila was dated May 17, 2018.
Prior to their assignment to the DPWH 3rd Engineering District in Kabankalan City, Alunan and Sabay were with the 2nd Engineering District in Binalbagan town.
The newly created 3rd Engineering District covers Negros Occidental’s 6th District composed of the two cities and four remote municipalities, tagged by the police and military as rebel- infested areas.