Ombudsman clears SP in tiff with housing contractor
At last, the Office of the Ombudsman has resolved one of the four cases relative to the anomalous socialized housing project of Iloilo City government in Pavia, Iloilo. Unfortunately, the resolved case was not the one which would punish those officials who caused the wastage of people’s money reaching P130 million.
What the Ombudsman Regional Office (Visayas) has recommended for closure and termination is the complaint filed by Ace Builders and Enterprise (ABE), contractor of the graft-ridden housing project, against members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod.
The case stemmed from the failure of the city government to pay the fourth progress billing of the contractor amounting to P4,373,873.37.
Complainant ABE, through its proprietor Alex Trinidad, claimed that the withholding of payment despite repeated demands violated their Contract of Agreement.
Respondents in the said case were Vice Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, Councilors Erwin Plagata, Julienne Baronda, Antonio Pesina, Armand Parcon, Jose Espinosa III, Jeffrey Ganzon, Ely Estante, Nielex Tupas, Perla Zulueta, Eduardo Peñaredondo, Eldrid Antiquiera, and Lyndon Acap together with former vice-mayor Victor Facultad and former councilor Ramon Cua Locsin.
The final evaluation report was prepared by Graft Investigation & Prosecution Officer I Atty. Ma. Sonnette S. Daquita, reviewed by Acting Director-PACPO Carla Juris Narvios-Tanco with Assistant Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca-Santiago’s recommending approval and finally approved by Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio S. Apostol.
Copy of the final evaluation report was furnished to the office of Vice Mayor Mabilog last July 17, 2009, although the report was prepared and submitted last March 10, 2009 yet.
The Ombudsman said that although Mayor Jerry P. Treñas issued Executive Order No. 24 dated May 29, 2003 creating a Task Force that recommended the approval of payment on the complainant’s claim for Progress Billing No. 4 amounting to P4,373,873.37, it stressed that there are several pending cases at present relative to the Pavia Housing Project for appropriate action by the Office of the Ombudsman. The pending cases were docketed as OMB-V-C-03-0715-K, OMB-V-C-03-0716-K and OMB-V-A-03-661-K.
Daquita said the Office of the Ombudsman had advised the Sangguniang Panglungsod to exercise caution in releasing money relative to the Pavia Housing Project pending the final resolution of the above-mentioned cases.
The report said that in view of the above findings, the Office of the Ombudsman recommended that the complaint of Trinidad against respondents be considered closed and terminated but without prejudice to its re-opening upon the release of the final resolution in the three above-mentioned pending cases.
The controversial housing project with an initial budget of P125 million started sometime in 2001 but was stalled the following year following allegations by a sub-contractor that the materials used for the construction of houses were sub-standard.
Series of investigations were conducted by the Sangguniang Panglungsod and appropriate cases had been filed with the Office of the Ombudsman but until now the project remains unacted.