RECENT DISCOVERY: 2 MISSING MOTORBOATS

WITH more irregularities and anomalies committed by the past Lim administration being uncovered, affecting her administration, Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez is considering to seek the help of  the cybercrime division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to establish accountabilities behind the series of deletion of computer files in various offices of the Dagupan City government.

At the breakfast forum with local newsmen, the mayor said she will discuss with City Legal Officer Aurora Valle the need to invite the NBI to investigate and  help determine who were behind the deliberate deletion of the computer files before her administration took over.

The latest irregularity discovered was the purchase of two equipped wooden motorboats in December 2020 by the Lim administration through negotiated bidding at P499,875 each or P999,750 but the two units were never delivered to the city government.

This was found out when the  General Service Office (GSO), now under Engr. Camilo Calimlim, conducted an inventory of property and equipment, and discovered that the supplier/ manufacturer of the two motor boats was paid as early as December 2020 but these were missing and appear to be undelivered.

Records showed that one Evangeline Doria, contractor of Golden Vision Construction Supply, was paid in advance for the two motor boats as shown by her receipt of Check No. 832114, amounting to P999,759 on December 7, 2020.

The disbursement voucher was signed and approved by Eva Daroy, then the city accountant, and City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara (now retired) and Mayor Brian Lim.

City Budget Officer Jessa Rayupa had certified to the availability of funds for the purchase.

That discovery of the missing motorboats led the Fernandez administration to the supplier who admitted being paid only P230,000 per motorboat that included second hand engines, not brand new engines.

Both the GSO and the city’s Commission on Audit (COA) traced the transaction and found out that the construction of the two motorboats per specifications are still going on to this day.

The discovery of the anomalous transaction, whose amount was believed to have been manipulated to keep it below P1 million to allow for negotiated bidding, prompted Mayor Fernandez to ask: “Bakit ang COA ay walang report about this, eh December 2020 pa pala ang transaction.”

The 2020 COA auditor was Michael Basa.

Meanwhile, Fernandez said collection of rentals of several stalls at the Malimgas Public Market were also not fully recorded and there was no revenue reported from fees due from owners of stalls at Tondaligan Ferdinand Park. (Leonardo Micua)

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