City gov't ignores contractor's demand to pay P26M
City officials have yet to initiate any legal action on the threat of the Ace Builders Enterprise (ABE) to file cases against the city government should it fail to release the P26 million payment for the contractor.
Mayor Jerry Treñas said the City Legal Office (CLO) has yet to give its legal comment regarding the contractor's demand for payment. Couple Alex and Cecilia Trinidad of ABE sent a demand letter asking the city to pay the balance of P26 million. The demand letter was sent through their counsel Atty. Efren Ambrosio.
ABE was the contractor of the highly anomalous socialized housing project for city employees in Pavia, Iloilo which was never completed. The project costs P130 million.
Treñas said the city government will not make any move to rescind the contract, pay the contractor or file cases against the contractor until the Commission on Audit (CoA) renders its opinion for the guidance of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The chief executive issued the statement even after the 10-day period for them to decide already lapsed and the legislative body has already approved a resolution rescinding the contract between the city government and the contractor.
The housing project became a white elephant after the controversy. For the past years, the city government paid millions of pesos for the interest of the loan and the capital for the P130 million loan it obtained from the bank to finance the supposed first housing project initially intended for the city hall employees.
Treñas said "he wants to be safe" on the matters involving the housing project and the payment demanded by the contractor. "It is a complicated issue that we could not easily decide," he said.
The legal office has to study all the actions that the city government will initiate. It will go through a process. There would be a collective decision from the legal office and the legislative council, said Treñas.
Several members of city council belonging to the present and former set of the legislative body were asked by the Ombudsman to file their comment regarding the housing project. The contract between the city government and the contractor was approved without passing the mandatory procedures.
Few years ago, the City Engineers Office (CEO) came out with a report on the use of substandard materials in the construction of different housing units in Pavia. The use of substandard materials was made public by subcontractor Rudy Gonzalez after Trinidad failed to pay him.