12th ASEAN Summit

CEBU, Philippines—The Provincial Board would have to pass a supplemental budget to cover the latest billing of work for the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), said Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. yesterday.

Since the board allotted about P600 million for the project, another outlay is needed to pay the contractor WT Construction whose P261-million claim submitted last Feb. 21 is being verified by Capitol officials.

The running cost of the CICC stands at P793.19 million in a “worst case scenario” if WT’s entire billing is valid for payment , said Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia who gave a second presentation of a cost analysis of the CICC last June 26.

“We have to pass a supplemental budget,” said Sanchez in a press conference, where he emphasized there was “nothing new” in the governor’s updated figure.

Sanchez recalled that he foresaw the cost of the CICC reaching P800 million during the Nov. 6, 2005 session of the Provincial Board, where he answered his colleague’s queries using his 30 years experience as a contractor and civil engineer.

“So if you talk about vindication, its not him (whistleblower Crisologo Saavedra) but I who should feel vindicated. I thoroughly explained the issue and I mentioned it (the P800 million cost) a long time ago,” he told reporters.

”We have to pass a supplemental budget,” Sanchez explained yesterday, “because we might be facing a court case by the contractor (if we don’t). It depends on the governor. We cannot act on any supplemental budget without any request coming from the executive,” he said.

Sanchez was optimistic Capitol lawmakers would approve the extra budget, saying he was ready to explain the expenses in detail to them.

“The members of the board are all professional. I think they will support the passage of the supplemental budget for so long as they would know how the money was spent and why it is needed,” he said.

The CICC was built in record time by the provincial government. for Cebu’s hosting of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit last January. It’s inauguration in December 2006 followed months of controversy about its rushed schedule of work and cost.

An ongoing investigation by the Visayas Ombudsman’s Office is looking into allegations of overpricing and that officials resorted to illegal splitting of contracts to keep costs within authorized limits.

Asked yesterday if audit rules would apply for going over budget, Sanchez said procurement rules allow a 15 percent overrun of an allotted budget.

In the case of the CICC, he said, each contract would have to be checked since various works were awarded to several contractors.

Horrendous

When reports first surfaced November last year that the total construction bill would likely reach P800 million, Governor Garcia was adamant that she would not allow it to go that far.

“I will not allow the cost of the CICC to balloon to such horrendous proportions. I’d be the first to protest and I would be the no. 1 stumbling block to any hopes this facility would ever reach P800 million,” Garcia said in a press conference on Nov. 6.

In a separate forum that day, Vice Gov. Sanchez said it was up to the governor where to cut expenses because based on his 30 years experience as a contractor, there was no way the building could be completed at less than P680 million to P800 million without seriously sacrificing quality.

“Once the CICC will be completed, we will have the cheapest, world-class international convention center in the world even at the cost of P800 million,” he said. He predicted that the board would have to approve a supplemental budget later. At the time the board had approved a total of about P450 million for the CICC.

Yesterday, Sanchez downplayed the statement of whistleblower and Capitol critic Crisologo Saavedra, who earlier said he felt “vindicated” because the governor’s cost analysis proved his earlier computations were correct and that his source documents from the Capitol were genuine.

Saavedra had criticized the governor for not disclosing WT’s P211-million billing when she gave her first public report of the CICC’s expenses on May 3, where she said the total running cost was P581.27 million.

Saavedra said he was vindicated after the governor charged that some Capitol employees leaked documents to critics who misinterpreted the figures.

“It proves that my documents are legitimate and that it came from the province,” said Saavedra. “With this I have proven that I know what I am doing and I was correct in my analysis. It is a plus factor on my case,” he said.

In her updated presentation last June 26, Garcia sought to dispel doubts that she was hiding information and enriching herself with the CICC project.

She said by industry standards, the CICC would have cost P1 billion to P1.17 billion. Occupying 2.5 hectares, the construction cost was P30,873 per square meter.

She said the cost of the building alone could reach P793.19 million if WT’s billing statement for over 800 work items was fully paid.

However, a separate billing by WT for “site development” in the amount of P48.29 million would bring the total cost to P841.48 million for the total project cost.

Both the governor and vice governor agree the CICC’s cost was well within industry standards for a building that size.

Sanchez said that based on his computation on the Standard Industry Factor Cost, even if the CICC would reach P900 million, it was still within accepted industry rates.