MAGALANG, Pampanga – “It’s a choice between 200 individuals and the future of Pampanga.”
So said Vice Gov. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao of the move to computerize the Capitol’s quarry collections system which has become a contentious issue with the fate of some 200 quarry workers hanging in the balance.
‘Of course, it’s the greater good that shall prevail,” Guiao hastened to add. “But safety nets will be provided the affected workers by way of their absorption in other offices at the Capitol or the provision of livelihood opportunities.”
Guiao said that “notwithstanding the quarry revenues reaching an all-time high, there is still the potential to raise the collections even higher by simply being more efficient.”
The quarry collections from July 1, 2010 – the first day of the Pineda administration – to January 31, 2012 totalled to P383,520,000, excluding the hundreds of trucks of sand covered by gratuitous permits granted to local government units for their priority projects.
Gov. Lilia “Nanay” Pineda has set a target P400 million in quarry collections for 2012.
Computerization, Guiao believed, “will make the quarry collections efficient as well as secure as it shall neutralize human error and temptation among the staff.”
“The Capitol also stands to save with computerization,” said Guiao, disclosing that the P75 million annual operations budget for quarry collections could be reduced to a low of P20 million.
Guiao projected that the cost of computerization would be from P80 million to P100 million “which in five years’ time would average P20 million per year, or an ultimate saving of P55 million annually (from the current P75 million budget).”
“That P75 million on the other hand is even projected to increase yearly by at least 10 percent in inflationary rate,” Guiao explained.
“We have the technology, we must make it work for us, for the betterment of our people. And then, there is full transparency in computerization,” Guiao added.
The three-term vice governor who is said to have set his sights on the first district congressional seat said he would like the “improved, transparent, efficient and profitable quarry collection system” as a legacy of his leadership at the Capitol.
In early 2005, Guiao broke his partnership with then Gov. Mark Lapid and accused him – in a privilege speech at the sangguniang panlalawigan – of massive anomalies in the quarry collections.
On record, Lapid accounted for only P10,530,000 in quarry collections for the whole of 2004 – only half of the current standard of over P20-million monthly average.
Guiao filed a plunder case against Lapid before the Ombudsman shortly thereafter.
Lapid’s father, now Senator Lito Lapid, as Pampanga governor, managed an even lesser P10,275,000 for the whole of 2003.
“I would like the computerization to be well in-place when I leave the Capitol,” said Guiao, “so that whoever takes over in the future would not be able to tamper the quarry collections to suit personal ends.”
