For the sake of Cebu province and its constituents, we hope that the P1.5 billion Provincial Resource Center project being pursued by the incumbent Davide administration is above board and complies with all legal requirements set by law.
Critics of the project who continue to insist that the proposed center should be located outside of congested Cebu City which already houses the Capitol have another reason to worry given reports that the contractor of the controversial Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) won the bidding for the project.
It was a decade ago when the CICC opened as venue for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit and while there were no untoward incidents, the structure was hounded by allegations of corruption among Capitol officials that included a WT Construction official and then Cebu governor and now Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district.
Fast forward to 2018 and Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, who lambasted the CICC project as an example of corruption allegedly committed by Garcia, was quick to clarify that WT Construction had yet to undergo a 12-day post disqualification process to be undertaken by the provincial government.
The process will determine whether WT Construction has the resources, track record and capability to undertake the provincial resource center which will house most of the Capitol’s offices just within the heart of Cebu City.
What’’s more the other bidder that failed to qualify for the project can still submit a motion for reconsideration that will be reviewed by the Capitol bids and awards committee, according to committee vice chairman Jone Sepe.
While all this sounds above board, maybe the province can take its own sweet time to invite all bidders to see if there are any more companies that can do the job just as well and at a price advantageous to the province.
After all, while the CICC had at least the excuse of being rushed to house the Asean leaders in the 2007 summit to be hosted by Cebu — an excuse that proved quite costly to both the national government and the province — there is very little if any justification to rush construction of the Provincial Resource Center which will be located in a traffic congested area.
The governor and his allies who had been among the first to condemn his predecessor for alleged corruption in the CICC project should also be first to be both transparent and accountable for their provincial resource center initiative.
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