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COA unveils cemetery ‘scam’ in Tarlac

Posted by on May 6th, 2011 and filed under Provincial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

The Commission on Audit (COA) recently revealed the alleged anomaly on the development of the public cemetery here after discovering that the previous administration failed to comply with the rules and regulations prescribed by law.

Reportedly, the project was funded by a P25-million loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines payable in 10 years having an interest of 8.675 percent per annum with the municipal heavy equipment as collateral and an assignment of the internal revenue allotment up to 20 percent.

The development of the cemetery began on December 1, 2009 and completed on April 15, 2010 as certified by the then mayor Tito Razalan.

Based on the audit observation memorandum duly certified by Jean Daliva, audit team leader and Lualhati Abesamis, supervising auditor, both of COA, the deficiencies in the procurement process prescribed under Republic Act 9184 and its implementing rules and regulations as well as incomplete documents supporting the payment of the Mayantoc Memorial Park project contrary to section 4(6) of Presidential Decree 1445 cast doubt on the validity and regularity of the transaction.

The COA report also said that during their ocular inspection they found out that the park is not yet operational and not properly maintained or taken care of until now.

Under the law, all procurement activities of the government in line with the commitment to promote good governance should adhere to the principle of transparency, accountability, equity, efficiency and economy in its procedure.

It should be supported also with complete documentations to establish the validity of the claims.

The controversial cemetery project was also compared with the same project of San Manuel town which was erected on a two-hectare land with the same amount and now well-developed and fully operational.

The Philippines News Agency tried to get the side of Razalan, who is now a board member in the first district of the province, but to no avail.

  • nelson bolos

    A similar corruption related story in Tarlac Province, Philippines

    Quarry scam is true – Cong. Lapus

    By Nelson Bolos and George Hubierna
    (Reprinted from Tarlac Review)

    Concepcion, Tarlac – - Have the quarry scam whistle blowers finally found a formidable ally?

    During the birthday celebration of 3rd District Congressman Jeci “Bong” Lapus media men were surprised to hear him say: “Totoo ang quarry scam. Kaya dapat malaman ng mga tao ang katotohanan.”

    Lapus was referring to the series of articles published in the local and national papers and Online news outlets detailing the reported quarry scam which includes, among others, “more than a P100 Million-a-year quarry tax collection racket”, “misdeclared quarry tax collection”, “illegal quarry operations in Tarlac since all have no ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate), “imposition of more than P1,200 per truckload as extra quarry fee on all quarry materials delivered to the ongoing TPLEX”, “doubtful yearly quarry tax collection amounting to P2-3 Million per year compared to Pampanga’s P500 Million collection in 2009”, and “shortchanging of municipalities’ quarry tax share”.

    “Definitely, there is misdeclaration of the annual quarry tax collection”, also said Lapus.

    Reports have it that the Capitol Treasury Office “failed to register the true quarry tax collection during the 2005 to 2007 construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway which required more than 40 Million cubic materials”.

    Provincial Treasury records shows 5-year quarry tax collections form 2005 to 2009 was only P2-3 Million.

    Lapus also disgusted on the now ongoing SCTEX as he said, “George Consunji, Jr., called me to complain of their not being allowed to supply (quarry materials to the SCTEX)”.

    Consunji represents the DMCI which has a 32% stake of the Philippines Infrastructure Development Corporation. PDIC owns and manages the P19 Billion SCTEX under a special investment agreement with the government.

    However, under the Local Government Code (LGC), the governor is vested with the exclusive right to grant and administer quarry operation permits.

    “If only there is a complaint with the (Congressional) Committee on Good Government, we will investigate the (Tarlac quarry) scam and even call the governor (to explain)”, also said Lapus who is now serving his last term as 3rd District Representative.

    Published articles say quarry materials suppliers to the SCTEX are required to “get the go-signal of the provincial government before they are allowed to deliver or before they are given Purchase Orders of quarry materials.”

    In an earlier news, former three-termer Board member now Tarlac City Councilor Amado De Leon was quoted to have said, “Governor (Victor) Yap may be liable of administrative and criminal cases” in reference to, among others, reports of “non-remittance and under remittance of municipal quarry tax share in Tarlac City”.

    Under the LGC, from the quarry tax collections, the barangays gets 40%, the municipality and the province receives 30% each.

    De Leon was also quoted as saying, “Capitol deprives Tarlac millions in quarry tax” and also recently disclosed that “during the construction of the SCTEX (2005-2007), the Province should have collected atleast P120 Million in quarry tax”.

    Last March 11, the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR Region III Office served a Notice of Violation with cease-operation-order to all the 4 quarry permittees in Gerona, Tarlac.

    The EMB order states, “you have been found operating a quarry without securing an ECC in violation of PD 1586”.

    However, consequent reports say the Gerona quarry permittees disregarded the EMB order and continued their quarry operations.

    “The news on the quarry scam should not stop because the people have the right to know the truth”, Lapus pointed out.

  • nelson bolos

    Quarry scam expose’ working?

    Capitol finally pays Tarlac City’s quarry tax share

    By Nelson Bolos

    (Reprinted from Tarlac Review)

    Tarlac City – - The Capitol, headed by Governor Victor Yap, may have been moved into finally remitting Tarlac City’s quarry share for July to December 2010 because of the quarry scam stories.

    Just recently, the City Accounting office disclosed the Provincial Treasury remitted this city’s quarry tax share amounting to P233,100 covering the period July to December 2010.

    This development surprised many as the Capitol “very belatedly” remitted this City’s 2-1/2 years quarry tax share for January 2008 to June 2010 also just recently.

    A confidential informant at the City Treasury Office revealed that the July-December 2010 quarry tax share was remitted only on April 3.

    Sought for comment, former 3-termer Board Member now city councilor Amado De Leon said, “Ang Provincial Treasury laging delayed sa pagreremit ng quarry tax share sa mga munisipyo, umaabot pa minsan ng 3-4 years bago ibigay. Pero dahil siguro sa mga nailathalang anomalya sa quarry, napilitan sila (Provincial Tresury) na magremit agad ngayon.”

    One of the published articles of the long-running expose’ on the so-called quarry scam says “P-Noy’s hometown defrauded of quarry tax” reveals that the Capitol failed to remit the City’s quarry tax share in 2005 and 2007 and “remitted a measly P26,100 in 2006”.

    The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) was constructed in 2004 to 2007 “where hundreds of millions in quarry tax was supposed to be collected from the Japanese construction consortium.”

    The said news article which was published last February and March by local nespapers also mentioned Capitol’s failure to remit this city’s quarry tax share for July to December 2010.

    As this developed, City Mayor Gelacio Manalang said, “Kung HUC na tayo, ‘yung nakokolekta sa quarry magagamit agad para sa panganga-ilangan ng bayan, hindi ‘yung maghihintay pa tayo kung kalian ibibigay (ng Kapitolyo).”

    The Manalang administration is said “to be seriously considering to launch a campaign for a Highly Urbanized City (HUC) status” which will make this city administratively and financially independent from the Capitol.

    Under an HUC status, the city government will be vested with the right to collect quarry tax collection and issue quarry permits unlike at present where the Provincial government does the granting of quarry permit, quarry tax collection and “monitoring and administering” of quarry operation.

    “Maganda ng balita ang pagbabayad ng maaga ng quarry tax share ng Capitolyo, pero dapat imbistigahin pa rin ‘yung nawawalang quarry tax noong ginagawa ang SCTEX noong 2004-2007”, also said De Leon.

    De Leon who served as BoardMember from 2001 to 2010 also said, “Hindi dapat maulit ang nangyari noong SCTEX sa ginagawa ngayong TPLEX (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway).”

    Based from the 2005-2009 Provincial Treasury report, the Province’s declared quarry tax collection is only P2-3 Million per year despite the construction then of “big ticket investments” such as the SCTEX, SM Mall, residential subdivisions, among others, which used millions of cubic meters of quarry materials.

    Comparatively, in 2009, Pampanga collected P504 Million in quarry tax and its quarry operations remain that province’s main income generating sector.

    Reports have it that Tarlac’s quarry industry is even stronger than that of Pampanga.

    The quarry scam stories begun in the first week of January when Col. Calixto Bamba resigned his post as Chief of Police of Gerona when he was admonished by Mayor Dennis Go over his (Bamba’s) intent to implement the Anti-Overloading Law against the hundred of trucks carrying quarry materials to the ongoing TPLEX constructio

  • Nelson Bolos

    Overloaded quarry truck kills 1, injures 2

    By Nelson
    Bolos (Reprinted from Tarlac Review and
    Tarlac Reporter)

     

    Tarlac City – - Is this a heavenly message to
    quarry operators saying enough is enough?

     

    A dump
    truck visibly overloaded with quarry materials bound to the ongoing
    Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union-Expressway rammed yesterday a helpless motorbike
    instantly killing a 19-year old female and seriously injuring two more.

     

    Killed on
    the spot is Mary Ann Mateo, 19, single and resident of Barangay Capehan, who died
    instantly when her head and upper body was crushed by the rear wheels of the
    dump truck weighing more than 40 tons.  

     

    The two
    injured were Roxanne Villanos, co-back rider of Mateo, and Mark Ramos, 23,
    driver of the motorbike described as a black Suzuki Rider 150 bearing no plate
    number.

     

    Mateo,
    Villanos and Ramos are all call-center agents and were on their way to work at
    the Sutherland Inc. compound, Barangay Tibag, also this city.

     

    The driver
    of the overloaded Misubishi Fuzo 10-wheeler yellow and white colored dump truck,
    plate number USB 193, was identified as Berlito De la Cruz of Manibuag Libutad,
    Porac, Pampanga.

     

    Police
    investigation report revealed that De la Cruz was driving the dump truck which
    was loaded with soil materials from a quarry site at Barangay San Pablo  when it rammed the motor bike carrying the 3
    victims along the busy Zamora
    Street, San Roque.

     

    The dump
    truck is said to be overloaded as it has extension boards at its dump box and
    carries around 20 cubic meters of quarried soil instead of the “legal load” of
    12 cubic meters per 10-wheeler dump truck.

     

    Quarrying
    in this province caught the news recently when published reports exposed the
    rampant overloading of trucks delivering quarry materials at the ongoing TPLEX
    in violation of R.A. 8794.

     

    Sought for
    comment, Tarlac City Police Chief P/Supt. Arnel Ramos said a case of Reckless
    Imprudence Resulting to Homicide, Physical Injuries and and Damage to Property
    is now being prepared against De la Cruz.

  • Nelson Bolos

    Pinoy shaming by
    Capitol bosses

    Commentary by Nelson Bolos

    (Published in Tarlac Review,
    Tarlac Classified News)

     

          The 1987 Local Government
    Code or R.A. 7160 says:

    “Section
    54.Approval
    of Ordinances.
    -

    (a) Every ordinance enacted by the
    sangguniangpanlalawigan, X XX  shall be
    presented to the provincial governor, X XX If the local chief executive
    concerned approves the same, he shall affix his signature on each and every
    page thereof; otherwise, he shall
    veto it and return the same with his objections to the sanggunian, X XX

    (b) The
    veto shall be communicated by the local chief executive concerned to the
    sanggunian within fifteen (15) days in the case of a province, and ten
    (10) days in the case of a city or a municipality; otherwise, the ordinance shall be deemed approved as if he had
    signed it.”

    However, there is a new Provincial
    Ordinance duly approved last May 2010 and signed by all the Board Members and
    Vice Governor Pearl Pacada  but which
    until now is not implemented by the governor.

    From the records of the Provincial
    Sangguniang Secretary, the Ordinance was not vetoed. It is thus deemed as
    approved.

    The Ordinance increases the quarry tax on
    sand, among others, from P5 per cubic meters to P10 per cubic meters plus
    administrative fee of P120 per truck load of trucks loaded with 15 cubic meters
    of quarry sand.

    Thus, under the new Ordinance, the
    haulers of quarry materials to the ongoing Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union
    Expressway which are all carrying more than 18 cubic meters of sand should now
    be paying P300 per truck load in quarry tax.

    Ironically, however, the quarry tax
    imposed on these haulers of quarried remain at P60 per truckload.

    The Ordinance was not vetoed. Is it not
    clear that the governor is liable of an administrative case for failing to
    implement an ordinance deemed approved?

                Published
    reports say at least 2,000 truckloads of quarry materials are being hauled
    daily and this should translate to more than P600,000quarry tax per day or P219
    Million in quarry tax collection per year!

                Add to
    this, is the report of the PIDC (owner of the TPLEX) to the SP enbanc hearing
    that as of November last year the TPLEX already enplaced more than 1.5 Million
    cubic meters of quarry materials. This means, the capitol treasury should have
    collected at least P25 Million in quarry tax if only the new Tax Ordinance was
    implemented.

                But how
    much was the declared quarry tax collection? Provincial Treasury report say
    they only collect P2-3 Million for the past 10 years!

                (We must
    not forget that the now famous SCTEX was constructed in in 2003 to 2007 and
    published reports also say the Capitol should have collected at least P240
    Million in quarry tax from its construction)

                And who
    benefit from the “uncollected” quarry tax? Only the bosses from the capitol
    know as they do all the “collection”.

    But despite these facts no one dares to
    file a case against anybody in the Capitol.

    Mr. President, this is
    happening in your home province and it appears there is consenting among the
    officials of the capitol. Or that the governor is beyond the reach of the
    “matuwidnalandas”?

    Mr. President, since I started
    the Tarlac Quarry Scam exposé early last year, I have received death threats,
    stalked for months wherever I go, a shot gun 
    fired at my house, and the subject of orchestrated character assassination
    by the Capitol minions. But I stood my ground. Until now I kept writing of the
    reported more than P100 Million a year quarry scam. But I find things very odd.

    Is our
    province exempted from the “matuwid na landas”?     

                Please
    prove us wrong…

  • Nelson Bolos

    The picture was taken a year ago in Gerona, Tarlac. A town of the former congressional District of President Noynoy Aquin0

  • Nelson Bolos

    Sino siya?

     

    A commentary by Randy Castro (Publisher of Tarlac Review)  

     

    ·       
    Ang tawag sa
    kanya ni ex- Mayor Aro Mendoza: “ang most powerful na tao sa quarry sa atin?

    ·       
    Mayor Jun Pobre
    ng Mayantoc: “Maraming pera dyan sa
    quarry pera, ang problema ni gob ang pera na kay Kapitan.”

    ·       
    Lahat ng taong
    sangkot o may kaugnayan sa quarry business ang tawag sa kanya: “The quarry bagman”

    ·       
    Dahil…“Hindi ka mabibigyan ng quarry permit kung
    hindi ka dumaan sa kanya”

    ·       
     Mayor Noel Villanueva: “Ok siya, lahat ng hiningi ko sa
    kanya, hindi ako napahiya”

    ·       
    Paano siya
    ka-bagyo? Hindi niya pinayagan mag-operate ang quarry permit applicant na
    rekomendado ni Mayor Dors Revilla, “kahit nag-usap na sina mayor at si gov”.
    Nag-operate lang ito nang kina-usap na siya.

    ·       
    “Humingi ng
    appointment si Mayor Ace (Manalang) kay gov para mapag-usapan ang mga issue sa
    quarry, pero siya lang ang humarap. Isang lang Kapitan”

    ·       
    “Kailan lang siya na sama sa pagku-quarry, pero ngayon sa
    lahat meron siya”

    ·       
    “Dati Vice Mayor lang plano
    niya, pero ngayon Mayor na sa 2013”

    ·       
    “Si Gov fix lang ang kita niya, pero siya patong-patong.
    Mas malakas pa siyang kumita kay Gov”

    ·       
    “Halos isang taon palang siyang namamalakad sa quarry pero
    ang bahay na niya daig pa ang bahay ng Mayor at may mga alaga pang exotic
    animals na nagkakahalaga ng daan-daang libo”

    ·       
    Kung totoo ang
    mga balita, na kahit wala ang ginagawang TPLEX, mahigit 5,000 trucks na quarry
    materials ang bini-biyahe sa probinsya araw-araw, dapat alam ng tao na ito na
    mahigit dapat sa P100 Million ang taon nang quarry tax imbes na P2-3 Million
    lamang kada taon. Marahil kasama siya sa nakikinabang dito. 

    ·       
     “Basta in-aprrove niya, kahit wala kang permit
    o DR pwede kang mag-quarry”

    ·       
    “Mga DENR
    naka-payroll sa kanya”

    ·       
    “He is not a Millionaire but a Multi-Millionaire”

    ·       
    “Kahit walang
    TPLEX, kumikita siya ng P200,000 per day”

    ·       
    Walang-wala, kung
    ipasyal ang pamilya para mag-shopping, sa Singapore o Hongkong lang naman

    ·       
    “Siya lang ang
    kapitan na may naka-detail na pulis security kahit wala namang death threat ”

                                                        

    Whew!
    Kapitan BR kilala mo ba ang taong ito?

    Kung
    sino man ang taong ito, kayang kaya niyang i-wala sa mundo ang sino mang magpapatanggal
    o “titibag” sa kanya sa kanyang pwesto.

    Pero,
    paano kaya kung ang amo niya ang mawala?