Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy ordered the City Engineering Office (CEO) to augment its deployment of project and resident engineers to ensure full monitoring on contractors of City Hall contracted infrastructure projects.

 

Mayor Klarex’s order which he issued during a City Hall monthly management committee (ManComm) meeting came days before Wednesday afternoon’s joint meeting of the council committees on public works and finance and appropriations at the City Council session hall.

 

The meeting tackled a Commission on Audit (COA) report on P211 million worth of unfinished infrastructure projects undertaken in the previous administration, some of which were started back in 2018.

 

Speaking to reporters after the closed door meeting, Councilor and public works committee chairman John Michael Seno said the City Engineering Office (CEO) submitted an erroneous report to COA.

 

‘The CEO report previously stated that 15 percent mobilization fund was released to the contractor/s (but during the meeting) they said it wasn’t released yet,’ Seno told reporters in Visayan.

 

Seno referred to the three projects that were mentioned in a 2022 COA audit report as initially mobilized but were not started based on inspections.

 

Of the city’s 126 infrastructure projects which COA commented on from 2018 to June 2022 (before Mayor Klarex Uy assumed mayorship), about 18 of the 37 projects that were inspected by the CEO were completed, Seno said based on the updated CEO report.

 

‘Based on the issue of liquidated damages (which COA raised in their audit report), the CEO said the city cannot impose liquidated damages on contractors because they were issued suspension orders because the contractors asked for extensions due to bad weather that was supported by (state weather bureau) Pag-asa’s forecasts and the COVID-19 pandemic,’ Seno said.

 

Seno explained that the joint council committee meetings were called to rectify whatever lapses were committed not only in the CEO report but in the monitoring and implementation of the projects.

‘The COA comments were based on the CEO report so if the CEO didn’t submit any data, then there’s no basis for COA to make those comments,’ he said.

 

One such way to improve monitoring is a City Project Monitoring group that will evaluate the quality of work done by the contractor.

 

‘The City Accounting Office is (merely reliant on the word) of the project or resident engineer on the ground. City Hall has two project engineers and 12 resident engineers inspecting (hundreds of infrastructure projects in the city),’ Seno said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)