12th ASEAN Summit

CEBU, Philippines—Aside from stolen wires and cables, several lampposts with spherical heads installed in Mandaue City for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit have also been damaged, an official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said yesterday.

Engineer Jorge Sebastian, assistant regional director of DPWH Central Visayas (DPWH-7), said the inventory being conducted by the department showed that many of the lampposts had been vandalized after their power supply was disconnected.

Failure of authorities to pay for the electricity consumed by the lampposts led to the disconnection.

Several of the luminaires – complete lighting units that form the head of the lampposts – were busted or broken, either accidentally or deliberately, Sebastian said.

The DPWH has yet to quantify the extent and cost of the damage.

“We have yet to receive the final report of the team tasked to conduct the inventory of all the lampposts,” Sebastian said. “Offhand, we have noted several deficiencies and we are doing something to address these.”

“Since the final report is not completed, we still can’t comment as to how much damage has been incurred.”

Sebastian said the department would be asking the private contractors to make the necessary repairs before final payment is made.

The anti-graft office has frozen the payment of the balance owed to the private contractors because of alleged overpricing.

“We will be asking the contractors to make the necessary repairs and restore the lampposts to their original form, according to its specification. The lampposts and all ASEAN-related projects would be subjected to final inspection before any final payment or turn-over would push through,” the DPWH official said.

Cebu Daily News found at least three busted or broken lampposts in Mandaue City.

Each lamppost cost the government P224,000.

Acting Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca-Santiago yesterday said she would ask DPWH to furnish her office copies of the inventory and audit reports made of all ASEAN-related projects.

Santiago said the anti-graft office was also conducting a separate and independent fact-finding inquiry into the alleged irregularities.

“We welcome the task force created by DPWH to inventory all the ASEAN-related projects. My office will be coordinating with them so we would also know about the status of these projects,” she said.

“As of this time, we are still in the stage of gathering documents and conducting ocular inspections, such as what we did with the closed-circuit television cameras. We are not yet done with our inquiry,” Santiago said.

The Commission on Audit had already released its audit report finding some “procedural lapses” committed by DPWH officials in the bidding and procurement processes of Asean-related projects and other government transactions last year, Sebastian said.