COA calls out Ombudsman for occupying incomplete, uninsured bldg

The Commission on Audit has called out the management of the Office of the Ombudsman for allowing its personnel, including now-retired Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, to occupy its Annex Building that has yet to be completed and covered by insurance.

In its audit on the anti-graft body, the COA said the P498-million Ombudsman Annex Building in Quezon City remains incomplete by 2.38 percent from the time it was last checked on June 6, 2015 until December 31, 2017.

The COA said this puts the building under a status of Construction in Progress in the Ombudsman's book of records, but no corresponding liquidated damages were made against project contractor Joint Venture of Filipinas Systems Inc. and F.F. Cruz and Co.

Morales and other personnel, nonetheless, occupied the building without the Certificate of Final Acceptance and the issuance of the Certificate of Completion of Works.

Morales retired on July 25 and her successor, Ombudsman Samuel Martires, is expected to occupy the same office space at the Annex Building.

The COA further said the building has yet to be covered by the General Insurance Fund of the Government Service Insurance System, "thus exposing the property to unnecessary risk of not being indemnified for any loss or damage due to fortuitous events."

Among the uncompleted or defective contract works found in the COA audit include the fire protection and air-conditioning systems, plumbing, electronic equipment, missing exhaust units, and cracks on the main entry porch of the building.

The COA said this is despite the fact the construction of the annex building was already behind schedule when its contract with the Ombudsman expired on November 30, 2014, when the project only had a completion rate of 84.30 percent.

The COA urged the Ombudsman's Project Management Team (PMT) to determine the total amount of liquidated damages it should charge and require the contractor to complete the project to facilitate its official turn-over.

The commission further directed the Ombudsman to have the building insured under the government's insurance fund.

Dire need of space

The Ombudsman, in response, said it was forced to move into the Annex Building due to its need of office space since the Office of the Special Prosecutor was booted out of the Sandiganbayan to give space for the court's Sixth and Seventh Divisions.

"The Office was already in dire need for additional office space due to the long required clear out of its Office of the Special Prosecutor from the Sandiganbayan Building because the Sandiganbayan had also long needed the office space for its two newly-created divisions," the Ombudsman said.

"Because of the contractor's continued failure to complete the project within the contract time and the subsequent deadlines imposed, the Office was forced to be requesting Sandiganbayan, several times, to be allowed to delay or postpone its clear out from the building, to a point when further delays may no longer be requested with a straight face," it added.

The PMT had informed COA that it has required the project contractor to complete the unfinished works within 62 days. — MDM, GMA News