Cebu Daily News / News

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‘Builder took own risk’ Cebu Daily News Posted date: January 24, 2008 CEBU CITY, Philippines - Who in the Capitol promised to pay for last-stage rush work on the Cebu International Convention Center? Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday said the contractor who is demanding P261 million for “unpaid” extra work on the CICC proceeded at “his own risk” by working without a contract. Instead of getting irked by the lawsuit filed by WT Construction Inc. (WTCI), she said it was the builder’s option to go to court. “It is the court that can order us to pay,” she told Cebu Daily News. “At least no damage was done to the province.” The Province of Cebu was named respondent in the civil case for collection of a sum of money but no individual officials were named. The governor’s legal team, which includes her brother Rep. Pablo John Garcia, yesterday said a Capitol investigation would be made to find out if the amount demanded is valid, who gave the go-signal for WTCI to proceed with the extra work and whether lapses occurred in communication with the contractor. “Where was the failure? At what point in the project was there a miscommunication or some lapse in communication between the principal and the contractor?” he asked in a press conference. According to WTCI in its petition, towards Phase 2 of the project, it was asked by the provincial government to undertake extra works, with the assurance of payment, because of pressure to complete the edifice with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit just five months away. WTCI complained that it had taken out fresh loans to finish the project only to be left “with an empty bag” and was now scrambling to stay financially afloat. The Province paid out P581.2 million for the project based on Governor Garcia’s public presentation of costs last May 3, 2007, not counting WTCI’s pending claim of P261 million. The amounts released were based on appropriation ordinances approved by the Provincial Board totaling about P515 million. To release more than that, without a contract or bidding, would have invited an auditor’s censure. The provincial legislature first approved P250 million, then a supplemental budget of P200 million, and then another supplemental budget for P65 million, which is within a 15 percent limit allowed by law. “I refuse to disburse funds which are not covered by proper documents. We understand WTCI's position because they did their job. But we have to follow proper procedure,” said Governor Garcia. WTCI was represented by its vice president, Willy Te, in the lawsuit. The governor’s brother, Rep. Garcia, and lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda, Capitol consultant on information and revenue collection, said they advised the governor not to pay WTCI's claim. “There was no contract to cover the alleged additional works and assuming there was a contract, we question the P261 million claim because it is still subject of a thorough review by the provincial engineering as well as the project monitoring office of the CICC,” said Garcia and Sepulveda. Pablo John said the province and the governor would rather “err on the side of caution.” “If we paid these claims without a contract, it would be disallowed by the COA (Commission on Audit) and we would be subject to the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” he said. “This debunks claims of critics of the CICC that the CICC was overpriced and that we have paid the contractors in excess of the amount,” he said. Governor Garcia said she preferred to “let the court decide”. “Justice should be served to someone who has delivered. Filing a case is always the venue for works done under extraordinary circumstances,” she said. But Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez said Cebu should pay its obligation to WTCI. He said the demand for payment was valid but that the provincial engineering office should counter check the amount by inspecting work items. “Their claim is reasonable. They have performed. We should even thank WTCI that they worked very hard, even using their own money so they could finish CICC on schedule. I think the province should pay,” Sanchez said. Sanchez was the Capitol official who correctly estimated last year that costs of the CICC would reach almost P800 million. He said if additional works by WTCI exceeded the 15 percent overrun of the project cost, a supplemental contract should have been executed between the province and the contractor. Crisologo Saavedra, who filed a plunder case against Governor Garcia for allegedly circumventing bidding guidelines to finish the CICC, said the lawsuit of WTCI reinforces his claim that the project is overpriced. Saavedra said Willy Te would be one of the contractors summoned by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee which will look into allegations of irregularities in the construction of the CICC.