By Florence F. Hibionada
ILOILO , PHILIPPINES – A Request for Assistance was made before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas Iloilo Field Office over a multi-million procurement in Tigbauan, Iloilo.
With at least P2.8 million in taxpayers’ money believed to have been spent and mis-used, the anti-graft body’s intervention and “prompt action” has been sought.
At the center of the complaint are two farm tractors bought back in May 2009 worth P1 million each and over P850,000 in additional farm implements and tractor parts.
Almost two years to date, the farm tractors remain unserviceable and “not operational.” And so as well the farm implements and tractor parts.
“Information from informal sources seems to indicate that when the tractors first arrived they were already defective. It was brought to a mechanic in Passi City who informed them that the tractors were unfit to be used in the ricefields of Tigbauan and that repair costs will be very expensive,” excerpts of the letter-complaint to the Ombudsman went as signed by Victor Soberano “for and in behalf of the people of Tigbauan.”
The subject farm tractors are currently parked in a private lot in Barangay Tan-Pael “in an utter state of disrepair.”
“Furthermore, there had been reports of incidents of the tractor’s parts being stolen and sold to junk shops. The last reported one being the battery cables of the tractors being hacked by a bolo and sold for its copper content,” the information as disclosed to the Ombudsman continued.
Corresponding check made by the town council validated the locals’ fears. Worse, the legislative body discovered that just about everything that could go wrong on said purchase occurred.
For instance, no less than the town agriculturist Eugenia Sayson being the supposed “Requisitioning Officer” and “End-User” has yet to “officially” receive the tractors. She also told council members she has no paperworks to show though she admitted signing the voucher for payment. She was also not privy to the supposed bidding then and in fact sent no representative – to her honest recollection – since no invite was received by her office.
As for the tractors itself, Sayson found out that what came were second-hand units yet justified that “maybe” it was only what the town can afford. And since the delivery, the tractors were not put into farmers’ use. Reason? It needs repair and were missing important parts that were either hard to find or phased-out.
If it is any consolation though, Sayson told council members that she has already informed Mayor James Excelsior Torres and is “hopeful” that the tractors will finally be operational this year.
For Soberano, taxpayer and concerned citizen, what happened was “seeming senseless waste of public funds of the municipality of Tigbauan .”
“This squander of our hard-earned money in the form of taxes and fees we pay to the government by the very people we have elected to provide for our general welfare, must surely qualify as valid basis of our complaint to your office to investigate the local government officials of the municipality of Tigbauan,” he wrote to the Ombudsman.
Relatedly, Cesar Portalibre, Tigbauan’s Supply Officer was also called by the council to help shed-light on the questioned and questionable purchase. Portalibre furnished the council with the supporting documents as he clarified that regular procedures would have the payment deferred for units or supplies found to be defective.
He can only do so much, he said, being a “one-man team” with no actual office.