Capitol may reduce payables

THE Capitol’s P607-million payables to contractors could possibly be lower after some of the projects’ contracts were found to have expired.

Cebu Provincial Board (PB) Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero said the Cebu provincial government has the option to scrap the expired agreements that were undertaken as early as 2006.

Zaballero heads the PB committee on budget and appropriations. She found out about the status of the projects in yesterday’s meeting with Provincial Engineer Hector Jamora.

“Some of the projects have not been started altogether by the construction firms, aside from the fact that a number have already expired,” she told reporters yesterday.

“But that is still the prerogative of the governor. We are just continuing to explore our options,” she added.

Of the Capitol’s total P607 million worth of payables to 31 different contractors, only P88 million has corresponding documents filed and “ready for billing” based on a report from the accounting office.

That means contractors for P518 million worth of projects have not submitted to the province their completion documents and obligation requests.

“Mr. Jamora told me that a lot of the projects were not completed or not started altogether by the contractor. We still do not why,” she said.

Zaballero said they are planning to go over all the contracts one by one and craft guidelines for its review.

Up to now, not a single centavo has been paid to the firms because Governor Hilario Davide III is standing firm on his decision to withhold the payments until the contracts get the PB approval.

A number of contractors demanded payment from the Capitol in the past six months for unpaid projects.

The biggest payable is the contract with WTG Construction and Development Corp. at P188.8 million. Another P146.9 million is owed to Sargaso Construction and Development Corp. followed by Duros Devt. Corp. for P83 million./Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos