A majority group in the Zamboanga City Council has junked it political alliance with Mayor Isabel “Beng” Climaco who was accused of failing to stop the alleged overpricing of food and medical supplies purchased with the use of Bayanihan funds intended to address the pandemic crisis in the city.
Councilor Crisanto “Monsi” Dela Cruz, a member of the so-called
‘conscience bloc’ in the City Council urged President Duterte to step into the controversy of alleged overpricing of relief goods and medical supplies and prevent the further misuse of public funds.
Dela Cruz and the ‘conscience bloc’ City Council members endorsed a letter addressed to Malacanang asking Duterte to investigate irregularities in the Zamboanga City procurement office, including the allegedly grossly overpriced purchase of over 250,000 25-kgs sacks of rice intended to help local residents cope with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
In a letter to President Duterte, Councilor Joselito Macrohon said state auditors should look into a “very controversial use of P325 million in public funds intended to help alleviate the plight of the people.” He said part of these funds come from the National Government’s Bayanihan Grant, an amount of P263.8 million of which was allocated for Zamboanga City.
“I am referring to the decision of Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco to purchase 250,000 sacks of rice at a high price of P1,300 per 25 kgs-sack,” Macrohon said in his letter. “What we find most disturbing is the very questionable high price of the purchased rice. The prevailing price in the market is only in the vicinity of P950 to P1,100 per 25 kg sack,” he added.
Dela Cruz revealed that the Zamboanga City Hall spent P263,816,273 to purchase 211,053 25-kg. bags of rice at P1,250 pesos per bag or P50 a kilo––more than P10 per kilo higher than the average wholesale price of well-milled rice according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“According to the PSA, the average wholesale price of well-milled rice is 39.41 pesos per kilo. Even if you round that up to 40 pesos a kilo, this means a 25-kg. sack of rice should cost only 1,000 pesos,” explained Dela Cruz.
Dela Cruz said that at P1,000 per bag, the city should have at most spent P211,053,000, or close to P58 pesos less than the amount paid to the supplier, 5MJ Enterprises.
“Based on the records alone this is obviously a questionable, irregular purchase, especially when everyone who goes to the market knows that you can get good rice for under P50 a kilo,” lamented the councilor.
Dela Cruz pointed out that with P58 million, the city could have bought an additional 58 thousand sacks for the people of Zamboanga City, which already has 214 recorded Covid-19 cases, 37 of which are active.
“Why did the Mayor sign this suspicious contract and allow such a purchase under her watch? Just by looking at the figures alone she should have known something was amiss,” said Dela Cruz.
Dela Cruz said that he and other members of the Zamboanga City Council’s “conscience bloc” were appealing to the President to intervene so that the financial assistance from the national government “goes to the people of Zamboanga City, and not into the pockets of corrupt and unscrupulous individuals.”
“What is tragic is that this is happening in the middle of a pandemic and the President has said that government funds are already limited. Given this it is even more important that we are vigilant and public funds are used properly because these should be going where they are needed, to our constituents.”
Dela Cruz also said that public records submitted to the City Council recently indicated that other medical equipment and supplies purchased by the City Government were allegedly overpriced and that the Council would investigate the purchase of each item.