ILIGAN CITY – Iligan City Representative Frederick W. Siao clarified that there were no anomalies in the sale of the Iligan Diesel Power Plant (IDPP) on his radio program on June 11.
“Klaruhon nato, ang kwarta toa sa kaban sa atong lokal nga pagamhanan. In fact, certified ug nadawat gyud nila. That ends the issue. Wala’y binuang, wala’y trampas, naa diha tanan ang kwarta,” Siao said.
(Let’s clarify, the money went to the treasury of our local government. In fact, it was certified and it was received by them. That ends the issue. No anomalies, no cheating, the money was intact.)
He dismissed the circulating issue that the privatization of the plants hindered the growth and development of Iligan City.
Siao also clarified to the public why the IDPP was sold in the first place by stating these three major reasons according to the Sangguniang Panglungsod Resolution 08-611 authored by the late Atty. Voltaire Rovira:
- the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Iligan City was not in the position to operate the diesel electric generating units as it had no contract for the supply of power with Northern Mindanao Power Corporation (NMPC);
- the equipment was on the land of a third party; and
- the city did not have the funds for the startup and operation cost of the diesel plants.
He also said that even the Commission on Audit (COA) “cleared and approved” it for there were no irregularities seen by the authoritative body in the selling of IDPP 1 and IDPP 2 as per COA Decision 2012-146.
The main point of the COA decision, he said, was as long as the selling price would not be less than Php 386,911,780.44, there was no problem because it abided by the rules.
He emphasized that as a city councilor in 2010, they were only the “inheritors of the problem at hand” and their job was to finalize the sale. In fact, he said, it was already bid out and had an owner.
The role of the then Sangguniang Panglungsod was to put everything in order.