Agnes won't pay for Gwen medals

THE Cebu Capitol will only pay for the redesigned medals of its student scholars that now bears the logo of the provincial government, the Lapu-Lapu monument and the Magellan’s cross. Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale said the Capitol will not pay for the medals that bore the image of suspended Gov. Gwen Garcia. Magpale awarded the newly minted medal last Friday to scholars of the provincial government in the Capitol Social Hall. She said the payment for the newly minted medals is still being processed. Last month, samples of the medals were sent to the office of Acting Governor Magpale with a purchase order amounting to P520,000 that was approved months earlier in July 2012 when Garcia was still in charge. “We remember the contractor calling us saying that the (old) medals were already up for delivery. But we told them to cancel it and propose to us new designs,” she told Cebu Daily News. According to Magpale, the supplier, Suarez Arts Metal Technology, delivered only 500 items instead of the original number of 2,600 medals with the image of the suspended governor who is now running for the congressional seat of Cebu's 3rd district. “We are still examining the papers from its original bidding and check the payment requirements. If everything’s in place, then we’ll pay the contractor immediately,” she said. The provincial government started the distribution of the controversial medals to student scholars in Cebu last April 26 after the supplier agreed to change the design without additional cost. The Purchase Order for the medals stated that each item cost P200. If the price remain unchanged, Capitol is set to pay P100,000 to Suarez Arts. A ban against putting the names or images of government officials in “billboards and signages of government programs, projects and properties” under Memorandum Circular No. 2010-101 of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). The ban was one the first orders of President Aquino in 2010. /Peter L. Romanillos, Correspondent