Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales’s admission that there is still massive corruption in government may not be surprising but it still gives Filipinos serious pause to question if it can ever be eliminated, let alone reduced.
Her admission also comes days after the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) recommended the rebidding of the P250 million worth of heavy equipment after it found discrepancies in the technical specifications and computation made the Bids and Awards Committee-Technical Working Group.
PB member Grecilda Sanchez-Zaballero, chairman of the committee that reviewed the contract awarded by the BAC-TWG supposedly even without the board’s review, pointed out among other things that one of the heavy equipment offered by the winning bidder Con Equip didn’t meet the technical specifications required by the Capitol.
It was also learned that Con Equip Philippines offered a dump truck worth P5.1 million to the Capitol while another bidder, Mighty Brothers Heavy Equipment (MBHE), offered the same equipment for P2.6 million.
There were reports that the two companies were owned by the same person, which cast yet another shadow of doubt on the regularity of the bidding process despite an earlier pronouncement from Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino, one of the BAC members, that the deal was done “impartially and transparently” and is “above board.”
The deal had been questioned by both PB Member Arleigh Sitoy, who left the Liberal Party (LP) Cebu chapter that Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III chairs, and the governor’s rival, One Cebu gubernatorial aspirant Winston Garcia.
The PB earlier said it will come out with its recommendation after the Sinulog and true enough, Zaballero and her committee ordered a rebidding of the project if only to ensure that there are no irregularities in the deal.
There had been no definite response from Governor Davide on where his administration stands with the project, but it will no doubt impact heavily on his reelection bid if he insists on awarding the project to the winning bidder with so many questions hanging over the deal.
Davide managed to get elected, among other factors, on the strength of his campaign in which he denounced the irregularities in the awarding of projects during the time of his predecessor, former governor and now Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district.
The governor, with allies like Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and then-ally Sitoy, pointed to the Balili property and the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in which he allowed some group to place a “Never Again” streamer that denounced anew the corruption of his predecessor’s administration.
It would be the height of irony and outrage if Davide chooses to award a project without resolving these questions of irregularities raised by the PB committee which is chaired by an ally.