Newsman to Ombuds: Probe "overpricing" of City Hall construction

ILOILO CITY, Philippines  – A publisher of a local daily in this city has requested the Office of the Ombudsman for an investigation on the alleged overpricing in the construction of the new Iloilo City Hall.

Rommel Ynion, who owns The News Today newspaper, personally filed his request last June 7 for the Ombusman to look into City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s approval of an additional loan with Land Bank of the Philippines for P260 million to complete and make functional the new City Hall.

The Iloilo City Legal Office (CLO) on Thursday told The Freeman that it welcomed any investigation by the Ombudsman for the public to know the truth as the complainant has the right to file.

“We have nothing to hide in the city government. This will be the proper forum to clear the issue once and for all,” said city legal officer Jose Junio Jacela.

Jacela said the CLO lawyers will be ready to answer the allegations hurled against the city government relative to the construction of the new seven-storey City Hall.

The CLO was referring to allegations of overpricing which purportedly violated the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The city government already made a project presentation to shed light on the issues surrounding the construction of the new City Hall during the technical conference attended by experts last month.

Ynion, in his two-page letter to Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro, a copy of which was received by graft investigation and prosecution officer Theodore Banderado and associate graft investigation officer Evangeline Nuñal, said he filed the request as a private citizen, a journalist, and a taxpayer of the city.

Ynion, also a contractor himself, alleged that the P455 million appropriated in the original contract was more than enough to complete the City Hall and there was no need for the current mayor to obtain an additional loan of P260 million. (FREEMAN)