COA told: Inmate labor for water project in Puerto Princesa not a good idea

THE Puerto Princesa City Water District (PPCWD) has informed the Commission on Audit that it is working with the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to come up with alternative activities to promote the rehabilitation and reformation of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) after the plan to hire them as laborers and watershed watchmen did not pan out.

In a Compliance Audit Report released last July 18, state auditors found that inmates from the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm (IPPF) were not hired as laborers during the construction phase and as nursery caretakers/forest rangers in the watershed area.

This was contrary to the provisions of the 2019 Joint Venture Agreement between the PPCWD and the BuCor which states that the bureau will recommend PDLs for hiring in connection to the project and the water district “shall accept them …if in its judgment, their utilization is feasible and advisable for efficient operations.”

The agreement likewise provided that the PPCWD would pay both the PDLs and their escort guards the minimum daily wages based on Region 4 rates.

Among the major components of the project were the P758.58 million Water Supply Improvement Project II at Barangays Iwahig and Montible, Puerto Princesa City; the P75.4 million Lapu-lapu Source Development Project (Phase 2); the P25.84 million procurement of five generators sets; and the P20.12 million construction of a pre-treatment facility in Lapu-lapu, Brgy. Iwahig.

The water sources of the project were the Montible and Lapu-lapu rivers located within the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm. The project was inaugurated in 2021.

However, according to the breakdown of costs incurred by PPCWD, there was no entry for the wages of IPPF inmates and guards hence the provisions of the JVA were not fully complied with.

“We recommended that the General Manager require the members of the Joint Monitoring Committee to submit an explanation for the non-hiring of PDLs in the project as agreed,” the audit team said.

During the exit conference held on June 21, 2024, the PPCWD management disclosed that the BuCor did not submit any list or recommend any name of PDLs for hiring hence the construction was completed without manpower from