By Leonardo  Micua

 

OUR photo journalist Butch Uka reported to me what appeared to him as widespread theft of steel manhole covers in Barangay Tapuac in Dagupan City by still unknown persons.

I told him this is no longer news today as it happened in any other city administration many times before not only in Tapuac but in a few other areas of the city but unfortunately not one or only a few perpetrators were arrested.

But when I heard Mayor Belen Fernandez talked about the disappearance of a number of manhole covers in Tapuac to newsmen at the sideline of the 79th commemoration of the landing of General Douglas MacArthur and his troops in Bonuan on January 9, that gave flesh to Butch’s story.

Mayor Fernandez said the culprits steal the manhole covers in the dead of night when everybody else around were already snoring in bed. They could have been easily identified had the CCTV cameras previously installed by the past administration for enhanced surveillance security, traffic management and emergency response worked.

Nevertheless, she said, the police and the barangay tanod were not remiss in their sworn duties as one thief was already arrested and charged. He could be part of the group responsible for the widespread disappearance of manhole covers in the barangay.

Giving premium to the role of CTTVs in surveillance operation, Fernandez marveled that many theft incidents and other crimes could have been solved had the monitoring devices installed in many streets of the city are functioning and well.

This led us to  retrace the mayor’s earlier report that 70 percent of the P15.7 million worth of CCTVs ordered and purchased by the past city administration were not working when they were delivered by Lot 9 General Merchandise of Caranglaan represented by one Maria Fatima Siapno.

All paid on June 19, 2022, these were not installed by Ms. Siapno’s company but by an employee of the city government by the name of Mr. Uson, according to the documents we managed to obtain.

Believing that there was monkey business in the bulk procurement of the CCTV cameras, Mayor Fernandez wrote City Auditor Michael Basa on December 12, 2022 to seek a special audit of the purchase given the huge amount spent by the city for the project.

On December 19, 2022, she too wrote Ms. Siapno and another former official of the city who, on record, received the CCTV cameras from the supplier contractor Lot 9 General Merchandise, which was not engaged in marketing CCTV cameras.

She asked Ms. Siapno to explain why the project was fully paid on June 20, 2022 barely within 10 days from the receipt of the materials, when the CCTVs were still not fully installed in the barangays.

As to the former city official, he was asked to explain within five days from receipt why no specification and other details were indicated in the Property Acknowledgment Receipt “when you received said items”.

Until today, no answers were given by any of the recipients of the mayor’s letters.

In her talk to newsmen at the MacArthur’s Landing Commemoration, Mayor Fernandez again said charges will be filed against all those involved in the irregular procurement of the virtually worthless CCTV cameras during the past city administration.

Methinks, this is something that the mayor and her city legal officer Atty. Aurora Valle should have done earlier to prove their sincerity to protect the money of the taxpayers of Dagupan City.

I hope Mayor Belen and Atty. Au are more resolute this time against the people they suspect to have screwed up the money of the city for their own personal interests.

Let’s wait and see!

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