Former Governor of Iloilo Niel Tupas Sr. labelled as "malicious" the allegations made by the Iloilo Provincial Government that under his term, the purchase of two Volvo Graders in 2006 was overpriced.

According to a release sent to The News Today, data from the Provincial Engineer's Office showed that in December 2006 the province, under Tupas, acquired two Volvo motor graders at a unit cost of P10,382,524.51 from winning bidder Civic Merchandising.

It stated that the Defensor administration acquired two Volvo motor graders also from Civic Merchandising at a unit cost of P9,680,000 which is lower than the same units acquired six years ago.

There was a difference of P702,524.51.

Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairman Atty. Dennis Ventilacion said the price difference is unusual considering that the mentioned Volvo motor graders have similar specifications.

In a statement sent to TNT, Tupas said the allegation is erroneous.

"Heavy equipment such as graders, dump trucks, road rollers (pison), backhoe excavator and the like are quoted in U.S. Dollar denomination, and not in Philippine Pesos. Hence, it follows that the Peso equivalent of the purchase price will depend on the prevailing foreign currency exchange rate at the time the transaction took place," he stated.

He further stated, "A table on foreign exchange rates (Peso vs. U.S. dollar) shows that the average exchange rate for the year 2006 was P51.3143 for every $1.00. In 2011, the average exchange rate fell to P43.3131 to $1.00. With this as background, it is easy to understand that a piece of equipment bought for the same price of $1,000 would have fetched a peso equivalent of P51,314.30 in 2006 and P43,313.10 in 2011. This is not rocket science. It is simple arithmetic."

Tupas shared a link to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) table on exchange rates: http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/spei_new/tab35.htm as reference.

"Is there overpricing? To the stupid and ignorant, it would appear so. But clearly, there is no overpricing, and I strongly deny the suggestion that I engaged in the S.O.P. practice of corruption," Tupas stated.

With this, Tupas said he wants Atty. Dennis Ventilacion, provincial legal officer, "to issue a public apology for the baseless and malicious insinuation he made to the media through the Public Information Office (PIO). I view it as a desperate effort to malign my name and reputation and divert the public's mind from the issue of the upsurge in electricity bill payments of the Iloilo Capitol under this administration."*