NEWS
[ HEADLINE ]Ask probe of PDA P300M overprice - $16M DANIDA loan twice actual cost of water system

The water system of the Partido Development Administration (PDA) in the Third District of Camarines Sur could be overpriced by at least P300 million, possibly the biggest irregularity in a government undertaking thus far here in the Bicol Region.

This surfaced after a former management consultant of the agency revealed that he resigned from PDA in 1999 after he was pressured to jack up the amount to be loaned from the Denmark International Development Agency (DANIDA) to double the original figure arrived at in the feasibility study.

The management consultant who asked not to be named for the meantime said he had originally quantified the cost at $8 million while the technical committee at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) recommended $10 million.

The NEDA board headed then by Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu subsequently approved a $16 million loan or $6 million more than the recommended justifiable cost. At 1999 prices, the difference is equivalent to about P300 million.

The NEDA board decision may have been made after an endorsement of then President Estrada in a marginal note secured by Congressman Arnulfo Fuentebella, a close ally of the deposed leader.

The consultant said he still has a copy of the presidential endorsement which may have been made by Estrada without being informed of the recommended maximum loanable amount of $10 million.

The management consultant who tendered his irrevocable resignation late in 1999 after he was pressured to raise the loan amount said he could not stomach the anomalous scheme.

“I did not want to be involved in anything that would tarnish my name and that of my family so I chose to resign”, he said.

After the revelation on Sunday, September 3, 2006, by the resigned PDA management consultant Tigaon Mayor Elmo L. Bombase, former president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, Camarines Sur Chapter, urged that a reevaluation of the actual cost of the PDA water system be immediately made. He hinted that the league would pass a resolution requesting the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) to look into the possible irregularity.

“The government and the people must not be made to pay loans that are possibly tainted with anomalies”. Bombase pointed out.

The Tigaon Mayor who was one of the chief planners of the defunct Bicol River Basin Development Program before he entered politics also pointed out that the feasibility study for the water system assumed that 90% of the populace in the Third District of the province would be served. But only less than 30% are actually served in barangays in and around the town proper, such that far-flung barangays are still without potable water supply making most residents vulnerable to water borne-diseases.

Caramoan Mayor Francis Benemerito said the determination of the national government to weed out corruption will be put to test by speedily looking into the highly possible PDA anomaly.

Known for consistently espousing honesty in government service. Mayor Benemerito has publicly rejected jueteng in his town despite an offer of P 120,000 a month from jueteng operators.

The PDA water system is supposed to serve 90% of the residents in the towns of Tigaon, Goa, Sagñay, San Jose, Lagonoy, Tinambac, Siruma, Presentacion, Caramoan and Garchitorena.

Bombase had earlier urged the abolition of the PDA after the agency admitted in the recent petition with the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to increase water rates that it was losing about P100 million annually in its operation.

Mayor Bombase pointed out that part of the losses stemmed from the salaries of unnecessary employees at the PDA who were hired because they were supporters or protégées of Congressman Fuentebella.

The enormous repayment cost of the DANIDA loan which is not made known to the public is also presumed to constitute part of the huge annual losses which the national government presently shoulders, Bombase also said.

After the release of DANIDA loan Congressman Fuentebella spearheaded the amendment of the law creating the PDA so that the provision mandating the PDA to furnish the Governor of the province its operational reports was deleted.

The scheme was intended to hide from the public possible anomalies at the PDA, Mayor Bombase said.