Provincial government: CICC not ground to disqualify WT

CEBU, Philippines — The fact that WT Construction was the contractor of the dilapidated Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) is not a reason to disqualify the firm from getting a contract for the construction of the P1.3 billion worth 20-story resource building of the Capitol.

Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Vice Chairman Jone Sepe said that in the point of view of the BAC, the CICC project is viewed as completed by the contractor regardless of its current state.

“Akoa sa procurement lang run. It may not (affect) lang but if moingon ang DPWH nga naa silay bikil ug naa unyay agency nga moingon nga di mi lipay anang ilang construction, it may come in play sa evaluation,” he told reporters.

WT Construction is the only firm that qualified in the first screening process. There were seven firms which attended the pre-bidding process but only two submitted their bids.

The other one, Finmat International Resources Inc., failed to meet the requirement of having undertaken a single-contract which costs at least 50 percent of the P1.3 billion project.

Sepe said that he is yet to check whether Finmat asked for reconsideration.

At this point, the WT Construction is undergoing the post-qualification process.

Sepe said that the legal, technical, and financial aspects of the bid book submitted by the said construction firm will be validated.  This method is carried out to ensure that there will be no misdeclaration.

Sepe also said that there is still a possibility that failure of bidding will be declared.

On the other hand, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III defended that the problem with the CICC before was not the materials used but the procurement process.

 “The issue there was graft and corruption ang kadtong sa procurement dili ang sa structure. In fact, they sued. WT sued the provincial government,” he said.

Ten years ago, WT Construction sued the Capitol for refusing to pay over P260 million for additional works on the CICC. The said building was primarily built for a summit of Southeast Asian leaders.

In the end, the Supreme Court ruled for the Capitol to pay WT Construction even if there was no contract citing the additional works taken and its corresponding payment.

CICC was built during the time of former Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

Sepe added that WT Construction will only be barred from participating in a public bidding if it will be blacklisted by the Government Policy Procurement Board (GPPB).

He described that the only ground for a contractor to be included in the list is if it signed a contract but failed to deliver the output in the end.

In the case of WT Construction, the firm was able to deliver the CICC project. — MBG (FREEMAN)