Defined duration of infrastructure contracts, MOAs in Cebu City pushed

Councilor Nestor Archival | CDN FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival, the minority floor leader of the City Council, is pushing for the stipulation of project durations for city projects that involve contracts and Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs).

In a proposed ordinance, Archival said that there have been multiple infrastructure projects in the city that have been implemented without clear schedules of when the construction will start or end much to the detriment of the public.

“It is imperative that contracts or Memorandum of Agreement involving infrastructure projects that the City enters into with private contractors should contain the planned start and end dates, and duration of projects in the spirit of transparency and accountability to the public,” said Archival. 

Under the proposed ordinance, in every contract, MOA, or memorandum of undertaking (MOU) entered into by the City Government of Cebu involving infrastructure projects, all concerned public officers, employees, or individuals and project contractors are mandated to specifically write, include, and disclose the “Planned Start Date, Planned End Date, and Planned Duration” of the project or undertaking.

Project Contractors would refer to an entity or business primarily engaged in building, erecting, and/or adding structures to real property. 

The planned duration must contain the start and end dates of the project as well as other necessary information that would distinctly identify the phasing of the infrastructure projects.

Should the contract or memorandum of agreement proposed to the council fails to provide the required planned start and end dates and duration of the project, this will be deemed unenforceable except when the Sangguniang Panlungsod ratifies such contract or MOA after proper amendments have been made by the concerned parties. 

The proposed ordinance also holds public officials liable for violating the stipulated guidelines with fines from three months worth of salary for the first offense to suspension of service for not more than one year without pay for multiple offenses.

For contractors who will violate the ordinance, they will be suspended from participating in biddings undertaken by the city government for six months upon first offense to suspension of two years from participating in any bidding undertaken by the city government for multiple offenses. 

“This ordinance primarily aims to promote transparency, speedy and timely completion of government projects,” said Archival. 

The ordinance is currently being reviewed by the Committee on Laws and Committee on Infrastructure, separately. /rcg