Over P122.6 million worth of procurement transactions made by Cagayan province have violated various provisions of the government procurement law, the Commission on Audit (COA) has disclosed.
In the recently released 2019 annual audit report for the provinces of Region II, COA auditors also revealed that 47 military and police equipment, including firearms of various make and calibers, have not been returned by former officials and employees.
“Forty seven (47) units of Military and Police Equipment costing P533,576.25, which were included in the Physical Count of PPE (property, plant and equipment) as of December 31, 2019 were not yet turned over to the province by former officials and employees thereby affecting the reliability and accuracy of the PPE accounts,” COA stated.
Audit examiners also observed that there has been delay in the implementation of projects worth P84 million under the Conditional Matching Grant to Provinces Program.
“Infrastructure projects funded under the Conditional Matching Grant to Provinces (CMGP) program of the Province totaling P84,028,046 were not completed within the expected period as stipulated in the contracts, thereby incurring delay in the delivery of benefits that constituents are expected to derive from the said projects,” the audit report said.
However, five projects which were not finished in 2019 were later completed in 2020.
The provincial government imposed liquidated damages from the claims of contractors as a result of the unjustified negative slippages in the implementation of projects assigned to them.
“It was noted that some procurement projects totaling P122,616,598.63 of the province were non-compliant to applicable provisions of the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9184,” the same report noted.
Audit examiners observed that among the procurement that failed to observe the IRR of the government procurement law are the purchases of various heavy equipment worth P8 million.
“The after-sales warranty certificate issued by the supplier was not in the form required under Section 62.1 of the 2016 RII of RA 9184, thereby depriving the province the full protection in case of defects in the items delivered,” auditors reported.
COA noted that the contract price of concreting projects in Enrile-Sta. Maria Road; and San Jose-Imurung Road in Baggao, exceeded the approved agency budget.
For the concreting of Tuau-Cagumitan Road, it was observed that the project costing P11.38 million was awarded to a contractor whose price offer was not the lowest during the public bidding.
In the same audit report, COA urged the provincial government to exert efforts at locating documents for the titling of over 291 hectares of land it owns.
“Approximately 2,912,973 square meters of land or 55 lots are still without titles or any proof of ownership by the province, thereby exposing it to the risk that these properties may be subject to disputes or claims of other parties,” auditors stated.
Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba was contacted but failed to air his side on the COA findings.
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