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[av_heading heading=’Early Palaro 2017 winners given ‘unofficial’ medals’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY STEPHEN LOUIE CHECA
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Thursday, April 27, 2017
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SAN JOSE, Antique – Since Monday when the awarding of the 2017 Palarong Pambansa winners started, the medals distributed turned out to be not from the winning bidder of the Antique provincial government’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
This was because the BAC disqualified the winning bidder for the Palaro medals, the 1-6-8 School and Office Supplies.
According to Nicolasito Calawag, BAC chairman, 1-6-8 failed to beat the deadline to present medal samples.
It was only yesterday at 2 p.m. when the BAC secretariat reconsidered its earlier decision and finally awarded the contract to 1-6-8.
In the absence of a supplier, medals that were given out beginning Monday were “donations”, according to Calawag.
Yesterday, 1-6-8 welcomed the BAC’s decision to finally award to it the supply contract. Still, it will file charges against the provincial government of Antique before the Ombudsman. It is questioning the bid awarding process.
The 1-6-8 owner Ian Race Lim said they were shocked that the BAC allowed the SOS to supply the medals and claimed of learning about the disqualification only on April 22, or a day before the Palaro officially opened.
Lim’s lawyer Eduardo Fortaleza said given that the 1-6-8 was disqualified, the supply contract should have been granted to the SMS, the second “lowest calculated quoter.”
Lim said the BAC invited them to bid on April 11. The approved budget for the contract was P863,800. Five interested suppliers joined but two were disqualified.
The 1-6-8 offered P562,900, making it the “lowest calculated quoter.” The SOS and the SMS offered P858,400 and P610,900, respectively.
Lim said the BAC asked the 1-6-8 to present their medal and trophy designs on April 20, but considering the “very short” period after winning, they asked the BAC to give them until April 21.
The items, manufactured in China, arrived on April 22. That day, too, the 1-6-8 learned it had been disqualified, said Lim.
The SMS, the second lowest calculated quoter, had not issued a waiver giving way to the SOS. In fact, the BAC asked it to present samples during a special meeting at the provincial capitol on Tuesday, but the SMS did not show up, said Fortaleza.
According to the lawyer, the BAC insisted on Tuesday that it had not yet awarded the transaction to any supplier or recommended any supplier to Gov. Rhodora Cadiao, head of the procuring entity.
All of these constitute violations of Republic Act (RA) 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act, Fortaleza stressed.
Fortaleza also chided Provincial Administrator Pampross Pagunsan, the “end user representative,” for insisting on his choice of the shape of the medals (round).
A “customized medal” was the only specification in the transaction’s general conditions, said the lawyer. The 1-6-8’s medal design was based on the official logo of the 60th Palarong Pambansa.
Fortaleza said they filed a motion for reconsideration before the BAC.
Yesterday the BAC secretariat awarded the contract to the 1-6-8 School and Office Supplies. It also told the supplier to deliver the medals and trophies yesterday.
While government procurement conditions give the supplier seven working days to produce the procured items, the 1-6-8 will comply as quickly as it can, considering the urgency, said Fortaleza.
Despite technically bagging the contract, the 1-6-8 is still determined to press charges against the provincial government before the Office of the Ombudsman and the courts. What capitol did — awarding the contract to the 1-6-8 — was merely “damage control,” Fortaleza said.
“It is very, very clear that the procurement of the trophy and medal are being conducted like a sham and the process is being rigged. It is not in accord with the provisions of RA 9184,” said the lawyer.
“To tell my client to deliver the 3,600 medals (925 gold, 925 silver, 1,150 bronze, 600 ordinary) and 24 trophies today is baloney,” he said. “They cannot impose on us. They should suffer the consequences of their actions.”
“What happened shows the ineptitude of the people in Antique capitol,” Fortaleza said. “I suggest the governor fire the people involved (in the procurement) pronto because they are dragging her into their mess.”/PN
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