Davide: SC ruling doesn’t clear Gwen from charges

The Supreme Court (SC) decision affirming the province’s civil liability to a contractor for extra work done on the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) doesn’t mean it wasn’t built under questionable circumstances.

This was the response of Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III to former governor Gwendolyn Garcia’s statement that the court ruling was “the clearest vindication and confirmation” that there was “absolutely nothing irregular or illegal in the construction of the CICC.”

The idle Cebu International Convention Center. Gov. Hilario Davide vowed not to spend a centavo more on it even after it was damaged during Yolanda and the 2013 earthquake. The national government eyes rehabilitating part of it for an exhibit area for export furniture. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

“This doesn’t mean that former governor Garcia is free from any liability which is what she is trying to convey in her interviews,” Davide told reporters yesterday.

In a press statement, Garcia, who represents Cebu’s 3rd district, emphasized that the Supreme Court would not order payment of public funds if there was anything irregular or illegal with the facility.

“Kon duna pa’y illegal o kahiwi-an, nganong pabayran man? (If there were anything illegal or irregular, why would they ask for payment?),” she said.

Defects 

But Governor Davide said the SC’s affirmation only recognized the civil liability of the province for additional work done on the building.

He said this does not absolve Garcia from the criminal and administrative charges she is facing before the Ombudsman at present.

The edifice was built in a rush for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in 2007.

Its official cost at over P800 million and the quality of workmanship was a campaign issue in the 2010 and 2013 election after graft complaints were filed. The building fell into disrepair after Davide took office in 2013 and was further damaged by typhoon Yolanda and the big earthquake in October 2013.

“There are so many irregularities like overpricing, in the procurement, and bidding process,” Davide said yesterday.

The national government has expressed interest in rehabilitating part of the CICC for use as a trade exposition center for export furniture to be run by the Department of Trade and Industry. The actual turnover, however, will take more time.

The Capitol submitted the costing with the DTI regional office.

Ready 

Davide and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale will be inspecting the CICC today to see whether paying up for the interest in the court case, which stems from a contractor’s money claim for extra work done, would be worth it.

“We have to clarify why we should pay with taxpayers’ money for the interest payment of the CICC. This is the province’s money. Should we really be asked to pay?” the governor added.

Davide said he has not yet receive the official copy of the SC decision and will have to review it before taking the next steps.

He said they may file for a motion for reconsideration or any similar pleading in that effect.

Nonetheless, the governor said the provincial government is “ready” to pay its legal obligation.

Interest rate 

In a Sept. 16 decision, the SC affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) that the provincial government owed P257.41 million to WT Construction for additional work done on the facility.

The original project budget was for P637 million. WT’s additional work pushes the bill to almost P900 million.

The SC set the interest rate for the money claim for additional work to six percent per year instead of 12 percent as ordered by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 6 when it first decided on the case in 2009.

WT Construction sued the Capitol in 2008 for payment of their site development and structural works for the CICC that was built in time for the ASEAN summit the year before.

The province under the Garcia administration elevated the case to the Court of Appeal and lost again, so it went to the SC.

In late 2013, while the case was pending in court court, then-governor Garcia “admitted paying P257,413,911.73” to the contractor.

A shell  

Earlier, Davide said the Capitol would not pay contractors whose contracts lacked approval of the Provincial Board, which included projects by the previous administration.

He said the province would no longer spend a single centavo on the CICC.

Garcia, in a press statement, said the SC’s decision should end close to three years of “senseless, criminal neglect of a valuable facility that this island and this region sorely needs.”

“Today, the CICC is a shell of its former glory, reduced to a storage house of undistributed, rotting relief goods, its facade a sorry staging ground for cheap political gimmickry,” she said.