Inquiry into Legazpi bidding ‘anomaly’ urged

LEGAZPI CITY — A private contractor has sought an inquiry into what he alleged to be the anomalous bidding for a P3.2-million, World Bank-funded water supply project here.

Jerry Luz of J. Marbela Construction alleged that the June 17 bidding for the water supply level II project in Barangay Banquerohan, which is being undertaken under the Agrarian Reform Communities Development Project (ARCDP), was "manipulated."

Luz claimed his company submitted the lowest bid of P2.4 million among two firms that took part in the bidding.

But the local pre-bidding and award committee (PBAC) recommended its disqualification in favor of the other firm which offered a bid of about P2.8 million.

Based on documents gathered by the city council’s public works committee, the local PBAC, after the June 17 bidding, sent a recommendation to the ARCDP central office in Manila recommending the disqualification of Luz’s firm with a note that it "may not be able to finish the project" because of its low bid and that the project should be awarded instead to the other bidder.

But Adelberto Bm Baniqued, ARCDP national project director, in a letter to Mayor Noel Rosal last Aug. 2, denied the recommendation, saying the "PBAC’s assumption that the lowest bidder might not finish the project will not substantiate the decision to award the same to the second lowest bidder."

Despite the letter, the PBAC has sent another communication to Baniqued reiterating its recommendation based on previous justifications.

Luz urged the ARCDP central office to conduct a thorough investigation into the alleged anomaly and order the city’s engineering office to stop the award until the inquiry is completed.