Malabon mayor in deep trouble

Malabon Mayor Amado Vicencio is in deep trouble after the joint venture firm to whom he awarded the P122 million contract to build a new municipal hall, admitted they failed to secure a vital requirement from the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB).

In a supplemental joint affidavit, Fernando Sopot, chairman of Principal Management Group Inc. (PMGI), and Serafin Fuentes, general manager of Serg Construction, said they failed to obtain the required license from the PCAB.

They added that their firm erred when they stated in their first affidavit on Oct. 31 that no special license with the PCAB was needed to begin construction of the town hall.

This puts the construction agreement in jeopardy, since PMGI and Serg Construction learned that a check they made with PCAB revealed that their joint venture needs to get a "special license as a consortium."

The "honest mistake" by the firm contradicts Vicencio’s earlier statements when he denied that the two contractors were unlicensed.

In a press conference last Nov. 15, he said the awarding of the contract to the joint venture firm was "aboveboard," and that all qualification documents were in order.

Vicencio, who is now facing administrative and criminal charges in the Office of the Ombudsman, could not be reached for comment. – Matthew Estabillo