BAGUIO CITY — The Department of Public Works and Highways-Baguio City District Engineering Office has blasted the claims of the local government here that the slippage of contractors caused the delays of infrastructure projects handled or monitored by the local government unit.

This comes after the Baguio LGU was ordered to return the P100 million in funds to the national government which was earlier intended to fund infrastructure projects in the city and was acquired through the DPWH Cordillera.

Under the General Appropriations Act, the amount should be returned after the Commission on Audit and the DPWH discovered various violations in the implementation of the projects as well as the utilization of the intended funds.

The projects were the Youth Center in the Baguio Athletic Bowl where DPWH provided a counterpart fund of P50 million. However, the CoA disallowed the earlier P25 million based on its 2022 audit report, stressing that the city government did not properly disburse the funding it had acquired from the DPWH.

Other projects were the multipurpose building at Wright Park with P29.4 million funding and the basic infrastructure program for the construction of a supposed to be multi-purpose hall in Lualhati, Barangay with P49.5 million funding.

The fund is part of the regular infrastructure program of the DPWH for 2022 which was downloaded to the local government of Baguio City for implementation.

In a statement, the City Mayor’s Office claimed that the delays were caused by the so-called slippage of the contractors whom they transacted with, adding that the contractors of the projects were already blacklisted after the discovery of certain defects on the projects they are working.

Before the discovery of the LGU, DPWH-BCDEO already conducted an inspection and found violations and irregularities on some of the projects being handled by the city government. The agency notified the concerned department of the Baguio LGU prompting the latter to conduct on-spot inspection.

In its statement, the DPWH-BCDEO stressed that it is merely following the applicable laws and issuances of disbursement if public funds, particularly the Commission on Audit-Department of Budget and Management Joint Circular 1 series of 2021 and National Budget Circular 587 series of 2022.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong earlier lambasted the DPWH for not releasing the remaining fund instead returned the funds to the national government.

However, the DPWH explained that the Baguio LGU is not unaware that the projects mentioned must be implemented within one fiscal year as mandated by the cash budgeting system of the Philippine government.

“The Honorable mayor is no exception because he has always been a ‘famous crusader’ of proper use of funds,” said the DPWH-BCDEO.

The DPWH-BCDEO stressed that it is improper to allege that the DPWH was disinclined to release the appropriated funds and criticized the claims of the mayor on how the agency allegedly turned a blind eye on substandard projects.

To recall, Magalong earlier filed a case against the agency but the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the case with finality last year and even reiterated the bases of the dismissal in the denial of the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the City Government.