'Inferior' housing materials for N. Baluarte fire victims returned
Of the P500,000 financial help for the 212 fire-victim families in North Baluarte, Molo, only P469,900 was awarded to a contractor for the procurement of galvanized iron (G.I.) sheets and plywoods. The G.I. sheets were eventually returned to the contractor after it differed from the material specified in the contract.
Records available at the General Service Office (GSO) show, the contract for the procurement of housing materials was awarded to Chedmaryl Construction and Supply owned by Dingdong Puertollano. Chedmaryl is reportedly one of the favored contractors by the city government.
Based on the contract, Chedmaryl will deliver 417 pieces of 316 x 4x 8 plywood and 1,291 sheets of 26 x 10 ft (.3 mm) galvanized iron sheets to Barangay North Baluarte for the 212 families whose houses were totally razed by fire.
The contracted price for each piece of plywood is P260 and P280 for the G.I. sheets. The total cost for the plywood is P108,420 and P361,480 for the G.I. sheets. The total price for the housing materials is only P469,900. The total allocation for the procurement of housing materials released by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo thru her Presidential Social Fund is P500,000. There is a remaining P30,100 for the first trance of the financial aid. The President alloted P1 million for the North Baluarte fire victims.
It is surprising that the bidding price was pegged at P469,900 when there are still families who were not able to avail of the help. The city government could not avail the remaining P500,000 if it fails to liquidate the first release.
City Legal Office chief Atty. Edgar Gil, who is also the BAC chair was not available for comment when reached by reporters.
Earlier, Gil claimed the procurement of materials went into a proper bidding procedure. He, however could not say who joined in the bidding.
Meanwhile, Barangay Captain Emilio Locsin and the entire barangay council of North Baluarte returned the G.I. sheets after it did not follow the specifications in the contract. In the contract, the G.I. sheets should have a thickness of .2 mm but what was delivered is .3mm.
They expect that the contractor will replace the returned materials as soon as possible. The roofing material is so thin and could be easily destroyed by strong winds, said Locsin.
Locsin blamed the city government for such mess as the delivery of materials even created troubles and confusion among his residents. Two heads of the families considered as renters were even reported to have quarreled after one family received help while the other one was not included in the list of recipients.
The barangay official said the list of recipients was based on the list confirmed and validated by the City Social Welfare and Development Office.