Cebu City overpriced lampposts declared ‘eyesores,’ removed

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu City government has started removing decorative lampposts that are now the subject of a graft case in Sandiganbayan because they served as “reminders of corruption.”

Mayor Michael Rama said he ordered the lampposts, found to be overpriced by as much as 10 times their original cost, removed because they had become sidewalk obstructions.

Instead of lampposts, Rama said he preferred the streets to be adorned with ornamental plants as part of his beautification program.

At least 28 lampposts on Veterans Drive in Nivel Hills have been removed, said lawyer Rafael Yap, the executive director of the Cebu City Integrated Traffic Operation Management.

The target, he said, was to remove at most 30 lampposts per day so the task would be completed in less than a month.

The uprooted lampposts were stored at the city government warehouse on M.C. Briones Street in downtown Cebu City, just a block from the City Hall, for safe-keeping.

“We have to keep the lampposts because we do not know for sure if these are still needed as evidence of pending graft cases,” he said.

At least 1,800 lampposts worth P365 million were installed along the ceremonial route in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu during the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in 2007.

Of the number, 677 were installed on Veterans Drive, Salinas Drive, Juan Luna Avenue and S. Osmena Road in Cebu City.

Nineteen officials of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities and the Department of Public Works and Highways officials were charged with graft after the Office of the Ombudsman ruled that the lampposts were overpriced by almost 10 times their actual cost.

After the Asean Summit in 2007, the lampposts had fallen prey to thieves and vandals.

Wires and cables had been stolen after their power supply had been cut off because the electric bills were not paid.

As instructed by Rama, Yap wrote the Office of the Special Prosecutors in early 2012 to ask permission for the removal of the lampposts.

Special Prosecutor Wendell Sulit approved the request provided that the lampposts would be stored in a secure facility “to ensure their availability for viewing, if and when the same would be required.”

She told Yap, in a letter dated March 2, that since the lampposts were not covered by any confiscation or forfeiture proceeding, she didn’t see any “impediment” in having these removed especially since these were already becoming eyesores.

Sulit, however, asked the city government to furnish her office an inventory report of lampposts as well as photographs and video documentation of their removal.