Rentuza: CTO railroaded procurement

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City outgoing accountant Arlene Rentuza blamed the City Treasurer’s Office for allegedly railroading the procurement process of the food served to the teachers, employees of the Commission on Elections and City Hall personnel during the last May elections.

Rentuza said it was the treasurer’s office that was tasked in the procurement of food for those who served during the elections.

According to Rentuza, the CTO had ample time to conduct the proper bidding because the election date was pre-determined but they did not do it.

Rentuza said the CTO could not use the “emergency” as an excuse for shortcutting the process.

The city owed Red Carpet Catering Service over P3 million for the packed meals. The catering company recently demanded payment from the city for the packed meals it delivered 10 months ago.

But the Commission on Audit ordered to stop the payment after it found out that the procurement violated the Republic Act 9184 otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act.

COA questioned the conduct of the bidding which did not qualify as competitive bidding based on the grounds that there were only three bidders out of the hundreds of caterers in Cebu and the other two bidders after Red Carpet were found as small eateries competing with a major catering service.

Rentuza said that the CTO only complied, for the sake of complying, with the minimum requirement of three suppliers to participate in the bidding.

She said that during their review of the transaction, they had the same questions as that of COA’s. They asked then the CTO to justify this but the latter reasoned out that it was an emergency procurement.

Yet, emergency procurement is not applicable to May Elections since the national election is always held on May. This is not also the first time that the city was in-charged of feeding those who served during the elections because the city always had an Election Reserve Fund intended for Comelec.

Last May, the Election Reserve Fund was readily available since it was included in the 2010 Annual Budget. Only the budget for the Barangay Elections was delayed because the Supplemental Budget from which the P18 million was charged was not immediately passed.

“That’s why last year’s COA report said that the city government has violated the Procurement Law. Evidently, we lack proper planning. Wala’y annual procurement program,” she said.

“Maong mosamot kalangay ang payments to suppliers because the end users are too lazy to correct it,” she added.

Rentuza said that she heard that the processing of the payment to the catering service that supplied packed meals to 6,219 personnel who served during the barangay elections last October was also stopped.

The city has procured a total of P9,157,800 for the packed meals.

City treasurer Ofelia Oliva said that she is not sure which supplier supplied the packed meals during the barangay elections. But she said she has instructed her assistant treasurers to reply to COA.

Oliva said that she delegated the task to her assistants because there were lots of works during the barangay elections.

She assured that they will comply with the requirements of COA. (FREEMAN NEWS)