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A MANDAUE City Councilor wants the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the controversy surrounding the purchases of allegedly overpriced construction materials for fire victims of barangay Umapad.
While the Office of the Mayor and the opposition-dominated City Council have started their own separate investigations into the allegations, Councilor Victor Biaño, majority leader of the council, said he would ask his colleagues to have the NBI, as an independent body, conduct a separate probe to ensure no biases.
Last Friday, Biaño and fellow opposition Councilor Emiliano Rosal claimed they were denied access to documents needed for the council's investigation into the purchase. They asked for bid documents, the bids and awards committee resolution on the awarding of the purchase contract, purchase requests, and purchase orders.
Administration officials said they would only provide the documents ?in the right time.?
City Administrator Briccio Joseph Boholst assured councilors that they would be provided with the documents they needed.
Biaño and some of his colleagues visited Biaño last Friday to ask for the documents, but Biaño said they were just given ?alibis.?
?It seems they don?t trust their investigation and we don't trust theirs. I guess the feeling is mutual. So, we will ask the NBI,? Biaño said.
The councilor said asking the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct an investigation might take too much time.
?We have asked for investigations before, but until now, there is no action,? Biaño said.
Boholst, for his part, said his office could not yet give the councilors the documents because their request letter has not yet reached his office or the office of Mayor Jonas Cortes.
?It was addressed to Budget Officer Lamberto Marababol, and not to me. So I cannot answer it,? said Boholst, assuring that his office continues to be transparent.
The opposition officials believed that the plywood and galvanized iron sheets donated to the fire victims as barangay Umapad were overpriced after some fire victims complained of the materials? alleged low quality.
Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna earlier conducted an informal survey and found that some suppliers in Mandaue sold plywood at P276 per piece, while City Hall bought its plywood at P395. The vice mayor also alleged that the plywood bought by City Hall was not of ?Marine? quality, as prescribed.
Fortuna also cited that he found suppliers selling gauge-26 galvanized iron sheets as low as P197 per piece, while the city bought its gauge-26 sheets at P496.
Administration officials, however, cited that these stores that Fortuna surveyed did not respond to the city?s bidding invitation to supply City Hall with the materials.
Three weeks ago, City Hall released the materials to the 505 families who were affected by the May 24 fire.
Owners of homes that were destroyed in the fire were given P10,000 worth of construction materials each. Those whose homes were damaged were given P5,000 worth of construction materials. Renters or house sharers would receive P5,000 and other forms of assistance.
