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BY HERBERT VEGO
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Friday, May 5, 2017
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ILOILO City – Some contractors are aching to sue the district engineer and the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) 3rd District Engineering Office.
They suspect that the bidding at the engineering office in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo on April 27, 2017 for 18 infrastructure projects in the 5th District of Iloilo was rigged.
“We intend to haul them before the Office of the Ombudsman for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” one of them said.
To be named respondents are District Engineer George Suy and the BAC chaired by Assistant District Engineer Renato Cogullo.
According to the contractors, the bidding process was railroaded “in favor of predetermined winners.”
Suy and Cogullo, on the other hand, maintained that they had observed the Terms of Procurement under Republic Act 9184.
“Unfortunately, we saw a very fatal mistake in their opening of the bid documents,” another bidder said.
The complainants who had requested anonymity for fear of repercussion deplored that it was figuratively done “under cover of darkness.”
They said that while there were more than a hundred sealed envelopes dropped by representatives of participating contractors that Thursday morning, it was not until 3 p.m. that the BAC started opening them despite the presence of five observers from different media outlets, including Panay News and the fact that there was only two hours left before the close of office hours.
At 5 p.m., the BAC announced that since the day’s office hours had ended, the majority of the envelopes would have to be opened at 9 a.m. the following day.
“No doubt it was a violation of bidding rules,” a contractor told this paper. “All bids should have been opened and announced on the same day to ensure that the process was within eyesight and hearing distance of interested parties. Who knows what might have transpired that night? The BAC could have opened the unopened envelopes, revised the documents and replaced them.”
He added that even if no such “hocus-pocus” had transpired, the BAC would still be liable over “non-transparency” of the bidding process.
The projects bid out on those two days consisted of roads and bridges with approved budget cost ranging from P2,940,000 for construction of a multipurpose building in Concepcion, Iloilo to P38.5 million for upgrading of Hinayan Bridge./PN
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