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LEGAZPI CITY: Prominent local contractors urged
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to nullify the bidding of its P54
million ADB-funded farm-to-market road project in Camalig, Albay on
May 14 bidding saying the reported manipulation of its proceedings
by a mayor and his brother, who is a provincial board member, was at
the least scandalous.
Earlier, Mayor Carlos Baldo of
Camalig branded as nuisance the complaint of WCS Construction,
saying its owner was a perennial complainant. Baldo also defended
his brother Carlwyn who was present during the bidding saying the
provincial board member was there to protect the interest of the
municipality. He challenged complainants to bring the matter to a
proper forum such as the Ombudsman.
As this developed, owners of WCS
Construction and NV Nidea Construction Corp said they will pursue a
graft case against the Baldo brothers and others who participated in
the bidding scam, in an effort to maximize their greed in the DA
Infrastructure for Rural Productivity Enhancement Sector (INFRES).
Several contractors in the region are reportedly in support of this
move.
Earlier, Grace de los Santos,
president of WCS construction through her lawyer Rodel Batocabe,
filed a letter of complaint on May 21 before the town vice mayor and
Sangguniang Bayan, exposing the alleged bidding scam perpetrated by
the Baldo brothers and other members of the bids and awards
committee.
The bidding scandal was
immediately reported to the Camalig Police the following day by at
least two construction firm representatives who witnessed the
bidding.
According to Antonio Nidea of A.V.
Nidea Construction Corp., the two brothers had approached him not to
participate in the May 14 bidding saying anyway he would receive his
share in the arranged bidding. He said he refused the offer,
however, during the period from March 30 to April 29 when bid
requirements for pre-qualification was scheduled for submission, the
bids committee chair Josephine Abansi could no longer be located to
the dismay of many contractors who would like to buy tender
documents.
The complaints said the
P54-million foreign-funded projects comprising package 1 and 2 were
simultaneously scheduled for bidding on May 14, however, with only 4
contractors qualified to participate out of the more than 100
interested contractors.
Asked to comment on the
allegations that he and his brother took so much personal interest
in the projects to the point of personally talking to contractors
not to participate, Mayor Baldo said these were mere allegations.
According to the
letter-complaint, WCS Construction had submitted two bid envelopes
simultaneously for package 1 and 2 an hour before the May 14
scheduled bidding. The complaint, however, said that a certain BAC
member, Hermina Napire, allegedly took from the bid box the WCS firm
envelope for package 1 and brought it to Mayor Baldo. The latter
reportedly summoned the representative of WCS Firm and asked why it
had the most lowest bid price contrary to an earlier agreement.
A few minutes later, the
representative returned back to the bidding room only to find out
the bidding was already finished. To his surprised, WCS envelope for
package 1 was stamped late while envelope 2 was accepted but
declared a losing bidder, the complainant said.
De los santos said Napire is the
INFRES representative in the bidding, besides being a member of the
bidding committee. Both de los Santos and Nidea have alleged that
Mayor Baldo and his brother are the real contractors behind the
INFRES projects on the basis of their reported actions that
pertinent to these projects.
According to the documents
obtained, the winning bidder for package 1 went to D.K. Jocson
Construction with a bid price of P19,434,998.00 followed by Ligao
Sto. Niņo Construction with a bid amount of P19,497,994.00. The
third went to LSD Construction with a bid price of P20, 022,199.00
followed by Ramar Constuction of P20,373,834.00.
For package 2, the winning bidder
went to Ligao Sto. Niņo Construction with a bid price of P26,
248,544.00 followed by DK Jocson Construction of P26,298,303.00 WCS
Construction was third with P26,631,239.00 and Ramar Construction at
P27,238,909.00.
--Manny T. Ugalde
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