Governor cancels service of Black Pearl guards
Gov. Davide (File Phoro)
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he’s decided to stop using the temporary services of Black Pearl Security Agency following last Tuesday’s accidental shooting involving one of its guards.
The termination takes effect today, he said in a press conference.
With this, Davide said he would ask the provincial police to temporarily guard the Capitol and provincial properties unitl a contract is awarded to a winning bidder for the province’s security services.
A Black Pearl security guard on duty accidentally discharged his service firearm, hitting a habal-habal driver in a province-owned lot in barangay Apas, Cebu City.
The guard sent to replace him didn’t have a proper license after Capitol Chief Security Loy Madrigal followed up the shooting mishap.
“I have decided to terminate the temporary placement of Black Pearl Security Agency here in the Capitol and in the other facilities of the Cebu provincial government in light of the incident,” Davide told reporters.
“This is a blessing in disguise that we saw their performance. This is also a way to stop doubts, insinuations, some even malicious, with personal attacks against me (about the hiring of Blackpearl). Hopefully, this will all stop,” he added.
Davide said he also considered other reports about the agency’s performance, including a guard who was was caught “sleeping on the job.”
Black Pearl, one of three bidders being considered by the province’s bids and awards committee, volunteered its guards for duty at the Capitol when the contract of Tactical Security Agency expired on May 30.
Davide yesterday said he was not inclined to pay them for the interim services since the agency volunteered its services “at its own risk”.
He said Black Pearl will still be included in the post-qualification bid but the “incidents will have to be taken into consideration by the BAC,” said the governor.
The post-qualification bid will continue. But what happened goes into the capacity of the security agency on their performance. In fact, I see an element of misrepresentation here,” he said.
“We don’t want to pay because they volunteered. After what happened, with the incidents reported to me, that is a gray area. But they took the risk, they volunteered to secure the provincial government so I’m thinking, di tingali angayan bayran (they’re not worth paying),” he said.
Aside from Blackpearl, other agencies bidding for the security services contract of the province are Tactical, Davao Cavaliers Security Agency (DCSA), Care Best Security Agency (CBSA), GDS Security and Detective Agency. /With UPV Tacloban College Intern Le-an Lai Lacaba
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