Baricuatro orders termination of 13 infra projects in Cebu

Local

CEBU Gov. Pamela Baricuatro has ordered the termination of 13 infrastructure projects as the provincial government continues its audit on 154 works suspended earlier this year.

Baricuatro announced the cancellations in a press conference at the Cebu Provincial Capitol on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

She explained that the projects were dropped either because of right-of-way disputes or because they incurred negative 15 percent slippage, meaning they fell far behind schedule.

The canceled projects include road concreting in Daanbantayan, San Francisco in Camotes, Dalaguete, and Dumanjug; multipurpose buildings in Aloguinsan, Toledo City, and Pinamungajan; and solar lamp installations in Mandaue City, Cordova, and Consolacion.

She said these projects had budgets ranging from P1.1 million to P5.9 million.

“Mao ni ang problema, mao ning na terminate sila kay naa lagi spillage nga negative 15 percent slippage,” Baricuatro said, adding that the projects also lacked feasibility studies.

She stressed that contractors responsible for the failed works face sanctions.

“Mao ni reason na terminate ila project so most definitely ma-blacklist gyud ni nga mga contractors [of] these projects,” she added.

In public infrastructure projects, slippage refers to the delay between actual progress and the approved schedule.

A negative slippage of 15 percent or more is considered a terminal stage under government procurement rules, allowing authorities to terminate contracts and blacklist contractors.

Of the 154 projects that the province suspended in July for review, 77 projects had been cleared to resume earlier this month.

With the latest decision, 13 have now been terminated, while another 64 remain under evaluation.

Baricuatro said the review continues to uncover contractors’ recurring failures, particularly poor planning and lack of feasibility studies.

Meanwhile, Baricuatro also confirmed that the provincial engineering team inspected the riprap in Barangay Cabadiangan, Compostela, which collapsed just a week after completion.

She questioned the absence of mandatory details on the project tarpaulin.

“Makahibulong lang kay katong nga project wala siya’y date of pagstart sa project ug pag-end sa project. Unya wala pagyud cost of project nganong gi-allow ni sa COA (Commission on Audit),” she said.

Records show that Ascentia Construction Inc. implemented the project, which falls under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Despite this, Baricuatro stressed that the provincial government will step in whenever public safety is at risk.

The governor has tasked the newly created Provincial Project Monitoring Committee to conduct a separate review of the riprap collapse and require DPWH to explain the missing project details and measures to prevent similar incidents.(MyTVCebu)