MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker has questioned the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)’s transfer of P1.1-billion funding to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for the government’s national broadband project.
Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza also questioned how the MMDA managed to get only one qualified bidder for the “Free WiFi for All” program.
“It’s a very huge project and yet only one bidder was able to qualify?” Daza asked during a privilege speech on Tuesday, referring to the joint venture agreement between A-Win and Net Pacific Inc.
“No other details were disclosed either on the MMDA’s website or in the Nov. 8 bidding advertisement, which described the project as a high-value contract,” he added.
Daza said the MMDA’s project with the DICT is “dubious.”
“While we can assume that this downloading of funds was executed on good intention, we in Congress highlight the sacred duty of sound fiscal management,” he said.
“Inter-agency transfer of funding can only be done with the consent of Congress,” Daza added.
He noted that the DICT pushed through with the fund transfer despite an adverse opinion from its legal department.