Construction firm denies bidding for Makati building

MANILA, Philippines - A construction firm that supposedly took part in the bidding of the allegedly overpriced parking building constructed by the city government of Makati denied the allegations and claiming forgery.

An official of J. Bros Construction said the documents showing the firm participated in the bidding of the parking building were spurious.

Alejandro Tengco, the chief operating officer of J. Bros, testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee yesterday that it was news to him that his company was involved in the bidding for the project in 2007.

“I would like to certify that from the time J. Bros Construction was established in October 1999 until present, J. Bros Construction never participated in, submitted a bid for or purchased any bidding documents for any of the public biddings conducted by the local government unit of Makati City for all its infrastructure projects, including the new Makati city hall 2 parking building,” Tengco declared.

“Neither have I nor has J. Bros Construction ever given any form of consent, whether expressly or tacitly to any person or entity, to use the firm’s name, license or other information, qualifications or particulars in any manner whatsoever so as to participate in the conduct of any and all public biddings undertaken by the local government unit of Makati City for its infrastructure projects, including the new Makati city hall 2 parking building,” he said.

Tengco was presented with four documents related to the bidding of the parking building, purportedly showing J. Bros took part in the bidding.

These were the letter of intent from J. Bros, signifying its intention to participate in the bidding; a certification of bidder’s responsibilities, a certification on the compliance with existing labor laws and standards, and a sworn affidavit indicating that the company’s officials were not related to any of the officials of the city government of Makati, particularly the members of its bids and awards committee (BAC).

All four documents were purportedly signed by Tengco in December of 2007.

“I want to say that all four documents that I supposedly signed were clearly not signed by me,” Tengco said.

Former Makati City general services department head Mario Hechanova, who previously served as the vice chairman of the BAC, admitted that the case of J. Bros was the handiwork of him and his fellow BAC members as part of the rigging of the bidding process.

Hechanova previously testified that all of the biddings for infrastructure projects of the city government of Makati were rigged.

He confirmed all of the documents related to the bidding were prepared even before the process started and a winning bidder was already pre-selected.

In the previous hearing, Hechanova testified that Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation bagged all of the infrastructure projects of the city government of Makati and this was upon the instructions of then mayor and now Vice President Jejomar Binay.

A third bidder that was included in the bid documents made available to the Blue Ribbon committee was identified as ITP Construction Inc., whose president Antonio Cruz confirmed in the previous hearing that they participated in the bidding.

Winner predetermined

During yesterday’s hearing, former Makati City councilor Ernesto Aspillaga corroborated the testimony of Hechanova that the biddings conducted by the city government were all rigged.

Aspillaga, the predecessor of Hechanova as head of the general services department and vice chairman of the BAC, claimed the rigging was done not only on the bidding for infrastructure projects, but on all projects, including supplies for the city government.

Aspillaga said he personally took part in this practice from 1996 to 2003 when he was still part of the BAC and he received instructions directly from Binay.

Whenever there was a purchase request from the office of the mayor, there was a note attached from Binay indicating who should win the bidding, he said.

During his term as councilor from 2004 to 2010, Aspillaga said he was among the authors of the city ordinances for the construction of the Makati parking building.

Aspillaga claimed he received P70,000 to P90,000 in cash every month and sometimes P300,000 to P500,000, which was coursed through the office of his colleague, former councilor Levi Sharon.

“I believe that former mayor of Makati City, Mayor Jejomar Binay, who is now the Vice President, had something to do with the money I received,” Aspillaga said in Filipino.

Jurisdiction

The Blue Ribbon committee invited the Vice President to attend the hearing but he failed to show up.

Binay said yesterday he was too busy to attend the Senate hearing.

“You see, I am working. That is what I am concerned about. While I am working, they are spreading many allegations against me,” he said.

His son, incumbent Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr., on the other hand, was issued a subpoena by the Senate to attend the hearing.

Mayor Binay, along with a certain Ebeng Baloloy, who was also served a subpoena, did not attend the hearing.

Both Binay Jr. and Baloloy filed separate jurisdictional challenges before the Blue Ribbon committee, which was denied by the members of the committee.

In his pleading, Binay challenged the Blue Ribbon sub-committee’s jurisdiction, arguing that it does not have jurisdiction to determine a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Plunder Law.  – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Mike Frialde