COA questions town’s reclamation project

CEBU, Philippines – The Commission on Audit has questioned the P3.9-million reclamation project of Aloguinsan town, saying it does not have the approval of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).

“Unauthorized or illegal reclamation shall mean those reclamation projects which had been undertaken and completed…without the required permit from the PRA and approval by the President of the Philippines,” COA said in its report.

Citing Section 4 of Presidential Decree 1586, COA said an environmental compliance certificate must be secured from the President or his authorized representative for improvements on environmentally critical areas.

Upon its review of the town’s 2014 financial operations, COA also noticed that the P3,990,000 amount was from former congressman Pablo John Garcia’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was already released to the contractor “without any deductions for the mandatory 10 percent retention” as warranty in case the projects would have defects.

Also, the audit team saw no certificate of completion and acceptance attached to the final payment, “thus the actual date of the completion of the project could not be determined.”

On 2013, Garcia granted P16 million of his PDAF for Aloguinsan, of which the town spent P3.9 million for its 7,500-square-meter reclamation project.

Contractor Geety Realty and Development Corp. was paid P2.7 million on February 10, 2014, and the remaining balance of P927,675 was given on February 25 with no certificate of completion and acceptance attached to it.

“The failure of the responsible officials to secure approval from the proper authorities before the project was undertaken would tantamount to illegal or unauthorized reclamation project,” COA said. —/JMO (FREEMAN)