The city council through Re-solution 524, s. 2023 urged the Character Council to comment on recent circulating reports of illegal gambling activities being conducted within Baguio.
The resolution cited as basis Ordinance 39, s. 2023 or the “Cha-racter City Ordinance of Baguio City” adopting a character-based approach or program for the city’s governance to make each citizen, community leader, government official, and employee model or exemplar of good character.
For the enforcement of the ordinance, the BCC was created to work, among other things, on the promotion of values towards attaining the vision and mission of Baguio City as a character city, such as active and proactive actions to curb proliferation of gambling activities.
During its Aug. 14 session, the city council discussed, in aid of legislation with resource persons from the Baguio City District Engineering Office, the issues and concerns on the construction of multi-purpose building at the Wright Park.
With P49.5 million from the Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Alleviating Gaps and the Basic Infrastructure Program or BIP of fiscal year 2022, the project was awarded for implementation to certain Khatib Construction through a project memorandum of agreement between the DPWH as the project’s implementing agency and the City Government of Baguio being the beneficiary.
The BCDEO report dated July 17, stated that a site inspection conducted on July 10 this year revealed that the noted deficiencies and defects on the project were not yet addressed despite its directive last July 7 for the implementing unit, the City Environment and Parks Management Office, to immediately stop the construction for the contractor to immediately address the issued site instructions and notices for the repair of all noted defects and deficiencies on footings, tie beams, and grade beams.
The BCDEO also learned that the contractor has not yet received the written instructions from Cepmo and at his own initiative, performed corrective measures on the project which may be unacceptable and not in accordance with proper corrective methodologies that might affect the stability of the structure.
The contractor also failed to present documents, particularly the project logbook, materials logbook, concrete pouring plan, concrete pouring permits, and materials test results.
With this, the city council through Resolution 506, s. 2023 has requested the City Legal Office for comments within 10 days upon receipt of the resolution on the possibility of terminating the project contracts awarded to the contractor under the project memorandum of agreement between the DPWH and the city government.
The city council in Resolution 509, s. 2023 has earnestly urged Khatib Construction to complete the projects being implemented at Wright Park by the end of December 2023.
The contractor was likewise reminded to dutifully follow the plans and specifications of the said project.
In Resolution 507, s. 2023, the city council requested the City Project Monitoring Committee together with the Cepmo to strictly perform its functions stated under Executive Order 27, s. 2023 on the implementation and monitoring of the ongoing multipurpose project at Wright Park and to submit a report on any development.
The functions of CPMC include, supervision and coordination in the project monitoring activities of the City Development Council and other city departments; evaluation of the implementation of all projects of the city, and deriving lessons for future planning and project implementation; report on the status of project implementation to appropriate bodies for information and further action; disseminate to the media and to the general public regarding the status of project implementation in different areas of the city; and submit periodic reports to the city mayor for information and appropriate action.
In Resolution 510, s. 2023, the designated DPWH Project Engineer in coordination with the CPMC was requested to update the city council on the status of the infrastructure projects at the Wright Park, or any revision in the implementation schedule and the Project and Contract Management Application every month.
Also, through Resolution 508, s. 2023, the Cepmo was requested to submit to the city council the crash program of the multi-purpose building project at Wright Park to ensure that the contractor will finish the project at the end of the year, and to submit to the BCDEO the necessary documents relative to their monitoring on the said project for information and appropriate action.
The city council in Resolution 511, s. 2023 has requested the City Buildings and Architecture Office, the City Engineering Office, and Cepmo to submit their respective reports on unimplemented projects within their jurisdiction for the last three years and to provide their recommendations for appropriate legislative measures.
The resolution complies with the observation in the annual audit report of the Commission on Audit-Cordillera for the presentation of the implemented and unimplemented pro-jects to show the city’s progress in executing its plans and initiatives.
Transparency of unimplemented projects signifies acknowledgment of challenges, delays, or other factors that may have hindered the execution of certain projects” and will allow for a comprehensive assessment of the city’s performance that would pave the way for informed decision-making and future planning, the resolution stated.
April 29, 2024
