BY MACON
Seven king-size beds with mattresses worth P91,250 each or a total of P638,750.00 and 17 sets of queen-sized beds with mattresses worth P84,600 each or a total of P1.4 million were among the “overpriced’’ furniture purchased by the Commission on Elections for its seven cottages in Baguio City.
This was bared in the senate hearing of the proposed P8.4 billion budget for the Comelec in 2013 after Senate Minority Floor Leader Senator Alan Peter Cayetano presented to the Senate finance committee led by Senator Franklin Drilon a two-page document entitled “Notice of Award” showing the purchases made by the Comelec.
The documents, both dated February 21, 2012, were addressed to Paula’s Furniture with an address at 429 Juan Angelo Subdivision, Sto. Domingo, Angeles City, and Raddy’s Construction and Supply on 20 Sandoval Avenue and N. Cruz, Palatiw, Pasig City. They were signed for the Comelec by Julio Thaddeus Hernan, Director IV, Administrative Services Department and Chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee.
A certain Renato Dela Cruz signed for Paula’s while a Conrado Ramos affixed his signature for Raddy’s.
“Pursuant to the approval given by the Commission en banc on February 21, 2012, you are hereby notified that the Commission awards to your FIRM the contract for the supply and delivery of the following…” read the document.
Aside from the king-sized beds, other pieces of furniture bought by Comelec from Paula’s include 20 sets of double deck beds with mattresses, which cost P15,840.00 each or a total of P316,800; a rectangular dining table with chairs worth P74,180.00; a round dining table with chairs (78,000.00); 3 sets of reception tables with chairs (P15,680.00 each or 47,040.00); seven sets of console table,(P8,500.00 or 59,500.00; 30 pieces of accent chairs with armrest, (P17,280.00 each or P518,400,00) and three sets of living room furniture valued at P59,780.00 or P179,340.00.
Purchased from Raddy’s, meanwhile, were blinds worth P340,552.35 and curtains amounting to P694,589.72 for a total of P1,035,142.07.
Cayetano said the total amount of the furniture was placed at P3,350,210.00. He explained that the purchase of the furniture indicated two things: overpricing and extravagance.
“All in all, millions were spent for the Baguio
He said the beds purchased by Comelec were “very simple” and could cost only P7,800 in the internet and the mattress would not even amount to P5,000.
Brillantes confirmed that both documents were authentic, and vowed to look into the reported ‘overpricing’ in the purchases made at Paula’s and Raddy’s.
Before the start of the hearing, Brillantes apologized for the ‘argument\ over the reduction of the Comelec’s original proposed budget of P13 billion.
Brillantes had threatened to resign over what he described as the “wrong” decision of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to slash the poll body’s budget for 2013.
“I was just emotional,” Brillantes said before presenting the commission’s proposed budget.
Brillantes assured the senators that there were no more disputes over the commission’s budget and that the P8.42 billion proposed allocation was enough for the conduct of the 2013 elections. The budget would cover expenses for the synchronized national, local and Autonomous Regions of Muslim Mindanao elections.
Per the Comelec presentation, the agency would need P11.01 billion to implement the synchronized elections which amounts to P7.06 billion, the automated overseas absentee voting amounting P205.98 million, and the Sangguniang Kabataan and Barangay Registration and Elections amounting to P3.75 billion, Drilon noted.
However, Drilon said the Comelec still has huge unobligated balances which it can use to defray election related expenses to ensure a smooth automated elections next year.
The Senate panel deferred the approval of the agency’s proposed budget on Wednesday and scheduled another meeting on August 30, 2012. (end)
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