Faelnar courts another controversy

CEBU, Philippines - Controversies seem to haunt Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Eugenio “Jing-Jing” Faelnar.

After his alleged involvement in the irregular awarding and bidding of barangay projects to E. M. Arante Construction, he is now being accused of allegedly overpricing the National Food Authority (NFA) rice purchased for the amount of P7,016,250 and distributed to all barangay employees last year as part of the city’s aid to the barangays.

Barangay Guadalupe, under the leadership of Faelnar, was chosen as the implementing barangay by then Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Last year, the city allocated P8 million for the purchase of 5,613 sacks of rice. Barangay Guadalupe purchased it from NFA at P1,250 per sack.

A barangay captain from the south district however questioned the amount, saying he can purchase a sack of premium rice at P700 to P800 only.

The FREEMAN called the NFA-7 office and was told that the agency sells Vietnam rice at P1,250 per sack. NFA has different varieties with roughly the same price. The cheapest is the 25 percent broken and iron fortified rice at P25 per kilo.

Faelnar said the NFA sold them the rice at P1,250 per sack. Since nature of transaction is government to government, no bidding was required.

From the P8 million allocated by the city for the rice subsidy, almost P1 million remains unspent, which Faelnar is set to turn over to the city in a form of a check today.

He is also submitting pertinent documents to the council that will prove there was no overpricing.

“Tan-awa na lang ninyo ugma, i-submit ko na didto tanan. Wala gyud ko kasabot diin sila ana nga ideya,” Faelnar said.

Aside from the NFA rice, there are also reports reaching Osmeña that the sound systems purchased and distributed to all barangays were also overpriced.

The city this year allocated some P1.2 million for the purchase of sound systems that were distributed to all 80 barangays at P15,000 each.

But some barangay captains alleged that the equipment given to them are worth only P8,000 to P9,000.

The sound system consists of a DVD player, a microphone, speakers and amplifiers. Each set costs P14,995 or a total of P1,199,600 for all 80 sets. The equipment were purchased from 168 Hypermart located on Englis, V. Rama Ave. in Guadalupe. (THE FREEMAN)