ANGELES CITY- The city government here has been blacklisted from obtaining further loans from banks arising from past “bad loans” worth P324.9 million.
This was gathered yesterday from a special audit report of the Commission on Audit (COA) submitted to the late Interior and Local Governments Sec. Jesse Robredo before he died in a plane crash.
Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said the report referred to bad loans obtained by the city government from 2001 to 2007.
Pamintuan found out that Angeles was listed among the 16 local governments barred from obtaining more bank loans arising from past indebtedness.
He said that the bad loans were obtained by the Angeles City government from from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
“The COA special audit team cited particularly the P186 million loan obtained in 2004 from LBP ostensibly for the construction of the San Nicolas Market,” Pamintuan said.
Former Mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno, who was this city’s chief executive from 2007 to 2010 confirmed then that the project was never part of the plans drawn by the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO).
“When the previous administration entered into a loan agreement with Land Bank of the Philippines for the reconstruction of a public market, which is the San Nicolas Public Market (P186 million), the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) was not informed nor consulted and neither was involved in the LGU’s loan negotiation.
The previous administration was being advised then by a financial consultant whose services were hired specifically for matters involving loans to finance capital-intensive projects like the public,” Nepomuceno reported to COA during his term.
“It was only six years ago since 2004 that the P186 million loan for the construction of the San Nicolas Market was obtained, but the market’s cost has remained questionable,” Pamintuan said.
The COA report also said that aside from the P186 million loan for the market, the other bad loans in the past by the Angeles City government also covered P45 million for school buildings; P43.5 million for equipment and garbage bins; P10 million for computerization of Ospital Ning Angeles; and P15 million for socialized housing.
Pamintuan said that because of the questionable loans obtained from 2001 to 2007, Angeles City has been included in the list of 16 LGU’s barred from obtaining further bank loans without clearance from the Department of Finance. Pampanga first district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin was mayor during the period.
