George Rama's request junked

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council disapproved the request to give 100 additional units of fire extinguishers to Barangay Basak-San Nicolas believing that other barangays in the city that still did not receive such fire-fighting equipment.

According to City Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña who heads the City Council’s committee on budget and finance, Basak-San Nicolas, under Barangay Captain George Rama, already received fire extinguishers out of the 6,000 fire-fighting equipment that were purchased by the city in 2010.

Mayor Michael Rama approved his cousin, George’s, request to provide his barangay with additional 100 units of fire extinguishers that will be distributed to different sitios, particularly in fire-prone areas.

Osmeña said since this is already an additional request for Barangay Basak-San Nicolas, the City Council would like to find out first if all the 80 barangays have been provided with such fire-fighting equipment and the expiry date of said fire extinguishers.

She also wants to know how many fire extinguishers are left in the city’s stockroom for distribution.

“While the donation is essential to the barangay’s fire prevention program, the committee on budget and finance would like to ensure that all barangays have received their share and that the fire extinguishers are still functional and safe to use by the requesting barangay,” Osmeña said.

The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier questioned the city’s purchase of 6,000 fire extinguishers in 2010 saying that the transaction worth P10.1 million did not follow proper bidding process.

City Auditor Eva Cabrera said the Bids and Awards Committee awarded the contract to a supplier that failed to submit all the documentary requirements.

Also, the city did not identify the end users that resulted in excessive purchase. More than 900 extinguishers were not distributed and were just kept in the warehouse. However, an inspection done by the Commission on Audit revealed that more than 500 were missing.

Cabrera said the documents only showed that out of the 6,000 units of fire extinguishers, 976 did not have intended users, which had an equivalent value of P1,649,440.

It was also reported that some of the firefighting equipment that were already distributed by City Hall were not properly documented, specifically in the barangay level, where these were also distributed to the sitios. —/MIT (FREEMAN)