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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Sunday, October 29, 2017
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ILOILO City – An ad hoc committee was created to conduct a fact-finding investigation into the P3.4-million chicken dispersal project of the city government.
It aimed to identify the people accountable for alleged irregularities in the Integrated Community Food Production Program – Livestock Component, said City Administrator Hernando Galvez.
The committee will consolidate all reports from the Office of Internal Audit Services (OIAS), the General Services Office and the City Agriculture Office (CAO) pertaining to the project.
It can “make a recommendation” based on these reports and other materials it could gather that are vital to the probe, including from city hall personnel and others it believes can shed light on the issue, said Galvez.
Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III created the ad hoc committee via Executive Order (EO) No. 96.
The OIAS already looked into the chicken dispersal project, an initiative of the National Anti-Poverty Commission and the CAO.
It discovered that the program’s terms of reference were not followed, said OIAS head Atty. Mary Joan Montaño.
Among others, the weight of the chickens that were distributed varied and most of them were indeed below 300 grams as previously suspected, she said.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod also conducted an investigation into the project but has yet to release the results as of this writing.
Galvez said the ad hoc committee may use the result of the city council probe as well.
Atty. Milagros Hechanova of the City Legal Office was heading the committee. Its members were Atty. Fhymore Gascon and Atty. Mark Piad while the secretariat included Atty. Jahn Rey Gonzaga, Atty. Love Faith Hayco, Shayra Mar Chavez, and Esther Casidsid.
Earlier, the owner of Foodwealth Agro-Vet, supplier of the chicken, insisted that he delivered chickens weighing 300 grams.
Gaspar Igona would seek legal action if not paid for the chickens they delivered.
“I have a valid contract with the city government signed by the mayor,” Igona said.
“I delivered chickens that the city government accepted. Kon indi nila ako mabayadan, pakigbatuan ko na ’ya,” he said./PN
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