City Council demands replacement from seller

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council demanded from the supplier to replace the alleged substandard hollow blocks that are beginning to break in the stockyard at the South Road Properties.

Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias said that the General Services Office reported during their executive session last Wednesday that there are over 1,000 pieces of hollow blocks stored in the stockyard that are no longer of good quality.

Cabarrubias said the alleged substandard hollow blocks were purchased in 2007 from Robin Corporation. The construction material was left idled by the Department of Engineering and Public Works at the stockyard exposed to elements of the earth. 

It was reported earlier that aside from hollow blocks, 100 pieces of culverts and 1,300 bags of cement mostly intended for the self-help projects of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor were left unused and could be wasted.

According to the City Council, this is a result of the poor planning of the DEPW.

Of the 1,300 bags of cement, 800 have already hardened. These 800 bags of hardened cement that could no longer be used costs almost P200,000 to the city government.

The 100 pieces of culverts were only used to fence the stockyard instead of being used in drainage projects.

Cabarrubias discovered the idle materials July last year but gave the engineering the chance to show that materials will not go to waste.

But after a year, Cabarrubias said the materials left idle so he felt it right to inform the whole council and call the attention of the engineering.

The council originally requested DEPW chief Kenneth Enriquez to appear before them in an executive session. But Enriquez only sent her representative last Wednesday.

Cabarrubias said that the council told the DEPW to avoid the waste of government resources by planning properly.

It was also suggested that the city may outsource the materials so they can demand on its quality. (FREEMAN)