Congressman Doloy eyes to curb corruption

By ALICE NICART (PIA Eastern Samar)
March 6, 2008

BORONGAN CITY, Eastern Samar  –  In an attempt to curb or better yet eliminate the alleged rampant “standard operating procedure” (SOP) in government contracts, Congressman Teodulo “Doloy” Coquilla is set to strictly implement what is only right and legal in bidding contracts for roads, bridges and even school buildings in his Eastern Samar Lone District.

This he articulated in a recent Press Conference with the provincial media.

Coquilla stressed that in order to allay abuses or corruption in government contracts, bidders and contractors who are not qualified will not be entertained.  This stern warning he decreed to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) here.  He said he has to do this amid reports that some contractors do not have enough equipment, technical know-how, and most importantly investment capital to be spent for whatever contract they enter into with the government; that is why he said in order to short cut, some internal agreement are allegedly arranged in between which is very much unfair to the general public who are in truth the end users of the infra project. He said he will not tolerate such practices just in case there will be some attempts to.

He however disclosed that to date, national government has yet to release new funding for the rehabilitation of the national roads.  In support to the Congressman’s claim, Nelson Cortez, Chief Political Affairs of the Congressional District said that, meanwhile to facilitate urgent repairs his Boss is currently spending his allocation from the PDAF which is intended for his priority projects.  However, with the blatant reality that most stretches of the national roads need repairs he is more than willing to spare the same.

Another good news Loloy Doloy brought forth recently is that, Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has already committed some P607M for road rehabilitation for his District and USEC Manuel Bonoan is willing to help him out for the immediate release.  This is still a small amount though to think about for the several portions of the national highway, considering that based on standards, only a kilometer and two meters is good for P10M budget he said, but again the President has told him already to submit some more documents to justify an additional request for funding.  The President, he added is expecting to rehabilitate the province’s national highways by December 31, 2009.