The 14th Sangguniang Panlalawigan has finally approved the resolution authorizing the provincial government to enter into an agreement with joint venture ConEquip Philippines Inc.-RDAK Transport Equipment Inc. for the purchase of equipment worth P227.4 million.
The approval of the resolution granted Gov. Hilario Davide III the authority to execute and sign, in behalf of the province, a contract of agreement with ConEquip Philippines Inc.-RDAK Transport for the supply and delivery of the different light and heavy equipment for use in the provincial road construction and maintenance under the Office of the Provincial Engineering.
However, the resolution was finally approved after it got majority of votes from eight board members, namely, Christopher Baricuatro, Celestino Martinez III, Yoly Daan, Jose Salvador, Earl Oyas, Miguel Magpale, Jude Sybico and Jerome Librando. Only four board members, namely, Victoria Corominas-Toribio, Edsel Galeos, Alex Binghay and Raul Bacaltos objected, while Sun Shimura and Glenn Bercede abstained.
Allegations of the equipment being overpriced have plagued the procurement process even from the beginning.
The first bidding was held in 2015, with ConEquip declared as the winning bidder despite submitting a higher price than the others.
Governor Davide subsequently declared a failure of bidding, citing public interest and a need to dispel all doubts of the integrity of Capitol’s procurement process.
During the second bidding, five companies expressed interest to supply the heavy equipment, namely Civic Merchandising Inc., joint venture of ConEquip Philippines-RDAK Transport Equipmment, D Limitless Vehicle Corp., TKC Heavy Industries Corp. and JVF Commercial.
However, only ConEquip-RDAK and D Limitless out of the five companies that expressed interest to supply the heavy equipment attended the actual bidding.
ConEquip-RDAK was eventually declared as the lowest bidder after it was able to present their bid price and met Capitol’s requirements while the D Limitless lacked the some documentary requirements.