CH defends opening credit line, seeking aid of sports commission

THE Cebu City Government said it was not placed at a disadvantage when it imported the rubber materials for the P26-million resurfacing of the rubberized track oval at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).

City Administrator Atty. Jose Marie Poblete yesterday said the City would have spent at least P39 million had it not opened a letter of credit and partnered with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) in behalf of the contractor, for the importation of the rubber materials.

The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier questioned the transaction, saying the City did not save funds by importing the rubber materials.

In its annual audit report, COA said the City still paid Sierra Universal Corp. the entire contract cost of P26,919,474.

COA said the City was supposed to save P12,309,063 in taxes when it opened a letter of credit and imported the Olympic- standard rubber materials.

Premise

In an interview yesterday, Poblete said the “savings” was only a premise in the memorandum of agreement entered into by the City and PSC for the importation of the rubber materials.

“It is not a provision that has to be complied with. We have not really exceeded what the contract has stipulated. The transaction was not disadvantageous to the City,” he said.

Also, Poblete said the City had to import the rubber materials because these cannot be found in the country.

Poblete said the City will submit its written explanation to COA.

“The bottom line now really is that the project has already been completed at the specified contract cost,” he said.

Meanwhile, the General Services Office (GSO) said the City renewed the registration of 77 city vehicles some two or three months ago.

The COA had pointed out that these were running without registration.

Engr. Rolando Ardosa, GSO chief, said the vehicles include heavy equipment, buses and services vehicles.

He said their registration can be found in the LTO data base.