OSMEÑA
CITY HALL TEAM–CCCI TIE-UP EYED
A special team in City Hall is being created to help cut red tape with regard to services, and bring in more competition with regard to bidders for services from private companies.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the the team would work with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), which is the biggest business organization in Cebu, to ensure that the city government would have more qualified bidders should the city get services from private companies.
The CCCI has close to 800 members in its organization.
“They (CCCI) will teach them (team) how to make money out of City Hall. So we will have more competition here,” he said.
In the past transactions in the city, Osmeña said he noticed that only a few companies were qualified to join in the bidding process.
He cited the search for a caterer for City Hall as an example of the challenge of attracting qualified firms to bid for such service.
He said only three caterers were qualified out of the 2,000 restaurant businesses present in Cebu.
“Right now, nganong gamay ra? Only few people will qualify as caterer? Asa man ta niana (Right now, why are they only few? Only few people will qualify as a caterer? Where can we find those qualified ones)?” he asked.
He also cited the challenge of finding bidders in addressing specific services to address the garbage situation in the city.
He said there should more bidders to make the bidding process more competitive, and this would also prevent corruption.
He was referring to the City Hall’s search for a private contractor to dispose and haul garbage to a private landfill in Consolacion town in northern Cebu from a transfer station in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.
There were only a few companies who participated in the bidding, which was eventually won by Pasajero Motors Corp. (Pamocor).
“We’ve been transparent. There has been a lot of money spent on garbage disposal. But then again, we are changing our systems,” he said.
He said that should his plan on leasing trucks push through, the city would cut down on personnel because the paperwork would be fewer.
“We don’t need maintenance. You cut down in processing vouchers. I’m signing many papers just to buy something,” he said.
Meanwhile, Osmeña said the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) had a meeting yesterday to resolve whether a resolution or ordinance is needed to charge to the account the P26.8 million intended for the hauling of garbage for the month of July.
He said it will be an emergency procurement.
“Hopefully we will resolve that issue,” he said.