The Manila Times

Group slams slow probe of fund anomaly in Bataan

- PATRICK ROXAS

MARIVELES, Bataan: An anti- corruption group hit the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Office of the Ombudsman for the alleged snail-paced investigat­ion on two overpriced garbage trucks worth P25.9 million that the local government purchased in 2011 and 2012 and the P17 million cash shortage in the vault in March 2014.

Joseph Pereyra, president of Mamamayan Laban sa Korapsyon, an anti- corruption group here, said the municipal council authorized former mayor Jesse Concepcion on September 19, 2011 to negotiate with the winning bidder, preparator­y to the implementa­tion, collection and transfer of the municipal solid waste in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Act.

Documents obtained by TheManilaT­imes showed the first garbage truck was delivered on December 13, 2011 and the second on December 19, 2011 and a partial payment of P1 million was paid to Urban Waste Management Environmen­tal Specialist ( UWMES), the alleged winning bidder.

Pereyra pointed out that the procuremen­t of the garbage trucks and the entire garbage containeri­zation project had no allocation in the 2011 annual budget and as well as in the Annual Investment or Procuremen­t Plan of the municipali­ty.

He said the fund used to pay for the first garbage truck worth P13.4 million came from a loan from Land Bank of the Philippine­s (LBP) that was released only in July 2012.

“So how can there be a legitimate bidding if there was actually no fund, a requiremen­t pursuant to the provisions of the Government Procuremen­t Law or RA9184,” Pereyra said.

The second garbage truck, priced at more than P12.4 million, was again with fund obtained from LBP loan.

The group filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against Mayor Jesse Conception and other officials and employees on June 7, 2013.

Pereyra alleged that UWMES, the supplier of the garbage trucks, appears to be a dummy or fake supplier as its website written on the pro forma and commercial invoices cannot be accessed.

He said further research in September 2015 revealed the two garbage trucks were not imported from Hong Kong as claimed by UWMES, but was actually bought from local Isuzu dealer BM Domingo Motor Sales in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.

Pereyra said a certified true copy of registrati­on documents including the sales invoice obtained from the LTO also showed the price of the garbage truck is only P6 million each.

The town also used two different receipts – from UWMES as supporting document for the release of P25.9 million for the trucks and BM Domingo Motors receipt worth P12 million to register the two trucks with the LTO.

Said documents were submitted to the Ombudsman on October 23, 2015 with an urgent motion to conduct a preliminar­y investigat­ion on the complaint they filed.

But Pereyra claimed their complaint remained docketed as Fact Finding (FF-L-13-0432) with the Ombudsman.

“There has been no movement as of July 2, 2018, or almost five years since it was filed in June 2013,” he said.

On the P17 million cash shortage, Pereyra said that in March 2014, COA conducted a cash examinatio­n and discovered the shortage.

COA sent a demand letter to municipal treasurer Onofre Diuco and cash collection officer Lydia Ramos but the money was allegedly never returned.

“It is clear in the audit report that the P17 million cash was missing, and according to a COA report, from 2008 to 2014, the municipal treasurer has been violating laws for maintainin­g big cash in vault balance every month ranging from P2 million to P8 million instead of depositing this in the bank,” Pereyra said.

He said Concepcion transferre­d Ramos to another department and put Diuco on floating status after the discovery of the shortage.

In December 2015 a complaint was filed at the Office of the Ombudsman against Diuco, Ramos, Concepcion and municipal accountant Danilo Cejalvo.

Diuco died last month while Ramos has been absent without leave (AWOL) since 2016.

The case is still under the fact finding stage 31 months after the filing of the complaint.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines