Ombudsman awaits city 'enclosure' of ill-fated housing project
Government efforts to secure whatever structure is left of the P135 million housing development in Pavia, Iloilo will have to wait for some more time.
An Iloilo City Government endeavor gone wrong, the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas in an earlier order sought to secure the property. The anti-graft body decided that pending final resolution on the legal battle here, Ombudsman intervention and action is appropriate.
In an update, Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca Santiago told The News Today (TNT) that city engineers sought though for more time. As such, actual fencing and enclosure of the housing units has yet to happen.
Santiago said official request was made by the Iloilo City Engineer’s Office (CEO) and granted accordingly by the Ombudsman. The extra time sought had something to do with the change of personnel in the CEO, she continued, yet the unfinished and unused Pavia housing project will be secured “as soon as possible.”
To note, the Pavia housing project has since been dubbed as a “scam” and the city’s “white elephant.” At least P17,000 a day of taxpayer’s money goes to the loan payment of said multi-million socialized housing project.
At least two administrations of the Iloilo City Government have tried to resolve the problem. Latest was the legislative probe conducted by the Iloilo City Council led by Vice Mayor Jed Mabilog with no apparent resolution reached on the matter.
The height of said city council action came in the middle of 2006 where project builder Alexander Trinidad of the Ace Builders Enterprises (ABE) was grilled. ABE was then seeking payment of some P14 million in “due account.”
Expectedly, the payment request met objections as issues of over P5 million in supposed substandard materials were thrown in the fray.
The vice mayor led the committee hearings as chair of the Committee on Construction, Engineering and Public Works that generated more questions rather than answers. In fact, the hearing became a venue for threats after threats of legal repercussions both from the project oppositors and contractor’s camp.
ABE lawyer Antonio Carpio Jr. then manifested his client’s legal option to sue city government officials for the unpaid bill. This, as Carpio also opened doors for amicable settlement for a win-win solution.
A similar threat from Ilonggo lawyer Romeo Gerochi who promised graft cases to city officials if a single peso of city government money is paid to ABE.
It was to be a legal dejavu for the ABE with a similar legislative probe also conducted by then Committee on Justice and Legal Matters. First set of public hearings were led by former city councilor and now Iloilo City Lone District Representative Raul Gonzalez, Jr.
Gonzalez's investigation was an offshoot of the revelation made by subcontractor Rudy Gonzales on the use of substandard materials. He made public of what he knew after the ABE contractor Alex Trinidad failed to pay him of his contracted work.
Gonzales' group came up with a recommendation to press charges on former city councilors and other members of the city council who were at the time still serving the city council during the conduct of the investigation. The same recommendation was rejected by the city council.
The same committee report was sent to the Ombudsman Visayas for action. Some of the previous councilors were even asked to submit their counter affidavits regarding the allegations on their participation from the time of the approval of the loan, approval of the project design among others.
Since then, nothing was heard on who are liable for the multi-million anomalies of the Pavia housing project.
“We are just waiting for the documents that the City Engineer’s Office promised to furnish us… but we are keeping an eye on this,” Assistant Ombudsman Santiago assured.