Vargas to inspect IOC-funded gyms

MANILA, Philippines — POC president Ricky Vargas will lead an inspection team of top POC officials to check out the multi-purpose gyms built in the Leyte municipalities of Palo, Albuera and Alangalang with IOC funds and survey Ormoc and Estancia, Iloilo, as possible future sites to construct the same facilities once the IOC makes available the third tranche of $150,000 from an allocation of $450,000.

POC officer-in-charge of Olympic Solidarity Dinah Remolacio said yesterday the visit will be scheduled for three days and two nights.  The three gyms were constructed in Gawad Kalinga Villages and funded by a grant of $300,000, broken down into two installments of $150,000 each. The final tranche of $150,000 has been withheld pending the liquidation of $129,000 from the second release of $150,000 for the Alangalang project. The liquidation for the first tranche of $150,000 has been submitted and accepted by the IOC for the Palo and Albuera gyms. Only $21,000 was confirmed as liquidation for the third tranche.

Remolacio said documents are now being completed to comply with the outstanding liquidation requirements. IOC chief of special programs Aline de Rham sent a letter to the POC dated last Dec. 21 calling attention to the unliquidated amount. The Alangalang gym was inaugurated in December 2017 so it’s been over a year since the liquidation has been pending. The budget for each gym was P3.92 Million, exclusive of VAT, and the design was standard, provided by MAC Asia Technical Consultancy for a fee of P224,000 paid in two installments as authorized by signatory Gina Alaguas, POC project manager. MAC Asia initially submitted a budget of P5.96 Million but it was later trimmed down. The contractor was GK Construction and Development whose signatory was engineer Edito Luego Mulig.

Since Vargas took over as POC president in February last year, Alaguas has not been available to shed light on the pending liquidation. Neither has former POC finance manager Manny Ferrer. Both Alaguas and Ferrer were appointees of former POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr.

The grant of $450,000 was awarded by the IOC in November 2013 for the POC to use in rebuilding sports facilities in areas devastated by Typhoon Yolanda. The assistance was confirmed in a letter signed by IOC president Thomas Bach and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)/Olympic Solidarity president Sheikh Al Fahad Al Sabah.  The letter mentioned that the grant would be remitted in equal installments – $150,000 from the IOC, $150,000 from Olympic Solidarity and $150,000 from OCA. Liquidation of each tranche was required to trigger the release of the next tranche. To date, only the first tranche was liquidated in full.

It took the POC two years to submit a proposal to the IOC for the use of the grant, presumably because spadework had to be done in identifying sites, contracting an outfit for a standard design and costing out the job. In September 2015, POC secretary-general Steve Hontiveros sent a letter to Olympic Solidarity director Pamela Vipond requesting approval to proceed with a proposal to build a multi-purpose, roofed gym in Palo, Albuera, Alangalang and Estancia using the $450,000 grant. The approval was given by the IOC and in November 2015, the IOC released $128,000 to the POC as part of the first tranche. In December 2016, the balance of $22,000 was released to complete the initial installment of $150,000.

A POC official, who is involved in the construction business, said based on the photographs of the constructed gyms, it seemed like each facility could’ve been built on a budget of P2.5 Million. There are no documents in the POC files detailing the purchase of materials. But the files show that progress reports were submitted by engineer Mulig. 

Before Vargas assumed the POC presidency, an attempt was made by the previous POC administration to “realign” the focus of the last tranche. The POC asked if it could dispense with the construction of a fourth gym in Estancia and instead, use the balance of the grant to finance sports programs of the gyms in Palo, Albuera and Alangalang.

A few weeks ago, the POC said it hopes to liquidate the remaining balance of the second tranche and upon clearance from the IOC, would request the release of the third tranche of $150,000 for the construction of similar gyms in Estancia and Ormoc. It also plans to use the funds from the third tranche to create sports programs in the sites of the gyms that were built and will be constructed.

Under Vargas’ administration, financial reports are submitted with total transparency to the General Assembly. SBP president Al Panlilio heads the POC committee on finance, oversees the flow of funds in and out of the POC and supervises the preparation of financial statements for submission to the General Assembly. The challenge is to reconstruct financial records that were left unattended by the previous administration.  One of the challenges is to liquidate the remaining portion of $129,000 from the second tranche of the IOC grant.