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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – The city government is not in a hurry to rescind its contract with the supplier of chickens for its Integrated Community Food Production Program.
There are processes to follow and the rescission must be based on law, said City Administrator Hernando Galvez.
Citing alleged irregularities in the program, Councilor Plaridel Nava said the contract with Foodwealth Agro-Vet Trading must be scrapped and the supplier blacklisted by the city government.
“Indi pwede mag-cancel nga wala rason. We are not in the position to declare a certain contract void in the absence of any ground,” said Galvez, citing Republic Act 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act) that set the procedures for rescinding government contracts.
Foodwealth Agro-Vet was tapped to deliver chickens to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) families. According to Nava, chickens that were delivered weighed less than what was specified in the contract – 300 grams.
“There must be due process. Allow the supplier to say something before rendering judgment,” said Galvez.
On Monday, Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III temporarily suspended the chicken distribution and ordered the Internal Audit Services Office to conduct an investigation. The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) also decided to hold a separate probe.
“Kon failure ang supplier mag-deliver sang iya obligasyon sa kontrata, for example, delay sa delivery or ang iya nga delay or liquidated damages nagsobra sa 10 percent sang overall contract, isa ina sa valid reasons sa pag-cancel sang contract,” said Galvez.
The chicken distribution started last month yet. This project has a budget of P3.5 million covering a total of 17,500 chickens. So far, 2,625 chickens have been distributed.
“Kon wala naka-meet sa minimum requirements ang supplier, may obligasyon ang syudad, may gahum ang syudad na i-reject ina,” said Galvez.
According to Nava, the supply contract also provided that the fowls must be completely immunized and that proper quarantine procedures must be followed during delivery and distribution.
Prior to the awarding of chickens to the recipients, the fowls must also be certified “healthy” by the City Veterinary Office, and those found to be unhealthy automatically rejected, he added.
According to Galvez, a certification from the City Veterinary Office is a requisite before the city government accepts the delivered chickens and distributes these to the recipients.
“Delivery is different from acceptance from the point of view of the procurement law,” he stressed.
The physical turnover or delivery should be coupled with inspection and evaluation to check if the goods conform to the minimum specifications in the contract, said Galvez.
If the minimum requirements are met, acceptance will follow, he added.
According to Councilor Ely Estante, chairman of the SP committee on agriculture, fisheries, aquatic and natural resources, this chicken livelihood project for the poor appeared not well thought out.
For one, the beneficiaries’ capability to raise chickens was apparently not considered, resulting to the death of fowls and thereby defeating the project’s purpose – to alleviate the recipients’ dire economic conditions, he lamented.
From what he had gathered, said Estante, some recipients were so poor they did not have the means to feed the chickens, thus the fowls died just days after these were turned over to them.
The recipients of the chickens each received five heads of chicken (four hens and one rooster) but they were not briefed on the proper care and handling of the chickens, according to Estante.
As a result, many fowls got sick and eventually died, he said./PN
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