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Manila: The Ombudsman's office has dismissed a group of public servants for allegedly inflating bills for lamp posts installed during the Association of South Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in January 2007 in Cebu City, a local newspaper said yesterday.
Action was taken against one director and eight subordinates of the public works department, eight city engineers, two mayors, and two contractors for the installation of decorative lamp posts, a report in Manila Times said.
In a 25-page decision, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez assailed public works regional director Robert Lala and his eight colleagues for acquiring 1,800 lamp posts and other street lighting facilities that were "excessively overpriced" at 365 million pesos (Dh3.3 million), the newspaper said. The lamp posts were installed along the streets of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
The overpricing was proven by the simple comparison of the Programme of Works and Detailed Estimates that was prepared by the local government units and documents of lamppost import from China.
The documents showed that the declared prices were ten times more than the cost at which the lighting equipment were imported, explained Gutierrez. A single-arm pole imported at 7,536 pesos was declared for 72,500 pesos, the report said.
"The public works officials are most liable because they approved all programmes of work, awarded the projects to winning contractors, and executed the corresponding contracts," Gutierrez said.
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