TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Two prominent organizations in the province have asked the Commission on Audit (COA) to look into the implementation of the P425M rehabilitation of the Upper Chico River Irrigation System (UCRIS) and also the repair of a section of its main canal washed out during typhoon Ineng in August of last year.
In a joint letter, the Kalinga and Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA), the biggest organization of the clergy here, and the Tabuk Multi-purpose Cooperative (TAMPCO), Kalinga’s leading cooperative, primarily questioned the violations of the provision of the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184) on slippage and the poor quality of work.
The two groups asked the COA how come the contractor, Markbilt Construction/RD Policarpio and Co. Inc., was not terminated when its negative slippage had breached 60 percent and RA 9184 states that 15 percent negative slippage is ground for termination of contract.
“The violation of the law on negative slippage was made even while the Upper Chico River Irrigation System Federation of Irrigators’ Associations (UCRISFIA) had clamored for termination as early as September 2014 when the negative slippage was only 29 percent and likewise even when the Kalinga Irrigation Management Office (KIMO) of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) had been recommending termination of the contract due to the delays,” the letter said.
They alleged that had the provision on slippage been enforced, the washout which took place during typhoon Ineng and which led to the scrapping of the second cropping in 2015 entailing an estimated total loss in yield of P1B would never have happened.
It can be recalled that the washout happened because the radial gates which the contractor was supposed to have installed in mid2014 under its work schedule were still missing when the Chico River swelled due to rains dumped by typhoon Ineng in 2015.
The two groups also called the attention of the COA to what they claim as sloppy work citing as sample the improperly installed and allegedly substandard gates.
They also pointed out that the washout restoration work which was done by the ASC Construction also failed after only five months dealing the UCRIS farmers yet another blow because the repair of the defective portion occasioned the cutting of the irrigation water starting May 30 to July 15, 2016.
According to the KIMO, more or less 1,900 hectares were affected by the suspension of the water service. These farms either had crops which still badly needed irrigation water or have been sown or planted thereby requiring continuous watering.
“The defect is a blessing in disguise of sorts because it has shown that the work is substandard,” the two groups said.
The complainants also asked the COA to look out for other anomalies and violations that might have been committed by the NIA and contractors.
“We tell the Commission that during the entire episode of the implementation of the project, we felt that instead of looking out for our interest and welfare we being the reason for its very existence, the NIA has been working against us which now compels us to seek redress from you,” the complainants wrote.
Copies of the letter were furnished the Office of the President, the Ombudsman and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol.**Estanislao Albano, Jr.
