The Commission on Audit has flagged the Office of the Ombudsman for occupying its P489-million annex building in Quezon City that had yet to be completed and covered by an insurance.
In an audit report, state auditors said the facility remained incomplete by 2.38 percent from its last inspection on June 6, 2015 until Dec. 31, 2017.
CoA called the attention of the Ombudsman for failure to liquidate damages due to incomplete construction against the project contractor—the Joint Venture of Filipinas Systems Inc. and F.F. Cruz and Co., and for occupying the annex building without a certificate of final acceptance and issuance of a certificate of completion of works.
Moreover, the structure was not yet covered by the Government Service Insurance System’s general insurance fund, “thus exposing the property to unnecessary risk of not being indemnified for any loss or damage due to fortuitous events.”
CoA cited the delay in the project with a completion rate of 84.30 percent.
The Ombudsman said they needed a bigger space when its Office of the Special Prosecutor transferred office from the Sandiganbayan on Commonwealth Avenue to the annex building on Agham Road.
“The Office was already in dire need for additional office space due to the long required clear out of its Office of the Special Prosecutor from the Sandiganbayan Building because the Sandiganbayan had also long needed the office space for its two newly created divisions,” the Ombudsman’s defense read.
The Ombudsman blamed the project contractor’s continued failure to complete the facility construction within its target date of completion.
Despite such explanation, CoA asked the Ombudsman’s project management team to determine the contractor’s liquidated damages, demand a project completion and have the facility be covered by an insurance.