P8.51B SPORTS FACILITIES PROJECT SA SEA GAMES, PINAIMBESTIGAHAN NI DE LIMA

PINAIMBESTIGAHAN ni Senador Leila De Lima ang posibleng iregularidad sa P8.51 bilyong sports facilities project na ginamit ng bansa sa hosting ng 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games dahil nagdagdag ng gastusin ang pamahalaan.

Sa paghahain ng Senate Resolution No. 555, sinabi ni De Lima na kailangan nang imbestigahan ang iregularidad na bumalot sa Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) na pinasok ng Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) sa Malaysian construction firm MTD Capital Berhad para sa pagpapatayo ng naturang sports facilities.

“A thorough probe is warranted in the billions-peso project in order to understand the choices made by the BCDA that culminated in the deal which not only failed to comply with laws, but likewise cost the government significant public funds, considering that there are other arrangements that could promote better transparency, competitiveness, equity, efficiency and economy for the government infrastructure projects,” aniya.

“Di birong halaga ito. Bilyon- bilyong piso na naman ng kaban ng bayan ang maaaring nalustay nang walang pakundangan. Anong akala nila sa buwis ng taumbayan, sarili nilang alkansya?!,” giit ng senador.

Napaulat na naghain ng kasong graft and malversation ang Citizens Crime Watch Association, sa pamamagitan ng presidente nitong si Diego Magpantay, Office of the Ombudsman laban kay BCDA President at CEO Vince Dizon at ilan pa hinggil sa posibleng iregularidad sa pakikipagkasundo sa MTD hinggil sa konstruksiyon ng naturan g sports facilities para sa SEA Games.

“In a 2019 audit report released on October 14 this year, the Commission on Audit (COA) stated that the BCDA gave “undue advantage” to MTD Capital Berhad, which won the contract to develop the facilities in the National Government Administrative Center (NGAC) in New Clark City in 2018,” lahad sa resolusyon.

“According to the same report, BCDA and MTD Capital Berhad initially only agreed on a project that comprised government buildings, commercial centers and residential housing with a total cost of 4.185 billion but they eventually agreed to incorporate in the project the sports facilities with the project cost of 8.51 billion.”

Binanggit ng resolusyon na sinabi ng COA na “there is no parallelism between the two PPP frameworks, the differences between the two approaches make them impossible to combine in a single project, such as NGAC.”

Tinukoy pa ng panukala na natuklasan ng state auditors na may bahagi ng sports facilities ng proyekto na BCDA ang nagplano at nag-isip na inegosasyon bilang unsolicited proposal sa halip na sa pamamagitan ng competitive bidding, kaya mayroon undue advantage ang MTD Capital Berhad.

“It is incumbent upon the BCDA to justify the choice of developing the Sports Facilities under the Joint Venture which is contrary to Contract Review No. 068 issued by the OGCC on 30 January 2018 which said that, it is, as a rule, ‘subject to public bidding,’” punto ni De Lima.

Sa ngalan aniya ng karapatang ng mamamayan sa impormasyon na dapat malaman ng publiko, kailangan magpalabas ng full accounting at ipaliwanag ng BCDA kung bakit gumastos ng pamahalaan ng P9.539 bilyon sa halip na P8.51 bilyon kahit kasama ang pagtatayo ng sports facilities at athelete’s village sa JVA na sumasakop ng konstruksiyon ng NGAC.

“As public accountability demands, the BCDA must also justify why they opted to pay the joint venture within calendar year 2019,” giit ni De Lima na tumutukoy sa statement ng COA na “MTD could have shared in the losses that might be incurred from the project in- asmuch as there was no proof of viability for the sports facilities.”