The Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) opened the bid for the Alburquerque Cluster Sanitary Facility Project (ACSFP) at P84.9 in 2007. This was contained in the invitation to apply for eligibility and to re-bid sent out by the bid and awards committee (BAC) secretariat for the project. Documents reveal that the scope of works include landfill cells lift 1 and 2, the administrative building, gravel access road (6m x3.5km), water system and electrical works. According to the said invitation signed by BAC Chairman Armando Miranda, the PTA through the approved corporate budget intended to apply the sum of P84,984,578 being the approved budget for the contract (ABC) to payments under the contract. The invitation said bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected.

Documents showed that the PTA called for the submission of the letter of intent from potential bidders to apply for eligibility for the said project. Prospective bidders should possess a valid PCAB license applicable to the said type and cost of the contract, have completed a similar contract with a value of at least 50% of the ABC and meet other minimum eligibility requirements stated in the eligibility documents. Interested bidders were directed to submit their letters of intent on Jan. 17-23, 2007 at the BAC secretariat, PTA, Department of Tourism building at T.M. Kalaw street, Ermita, Manila. On the other hand, eligible bidders were required to submit their bids at the same address not later than Feb. 16, 2007. According to the invitation, “completion of works required 300 calendar days”.

The ACSFP has come under fire because there has been no visible sign that it will be operational soon nearly five years after the project was bidded out. Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim said he smells something fishy in the delay considering that the project does not seem to encounter any difficulty as far as financial requirements are concerned. “Even if we stretch the time frame from 300 working days to one year, or even two years, this is still a long-overdue project,” he added. Lim brought up the issue of the ACSFP after he learned that there were efforts to close the Tagbilaran dump site. “They should first look at what happened to ACSFP instead of undermining our efforts to solve the garbage problem in the city on our own,” he added. The mayor also dismissed reports that the project will be operational soon. “You go to the site and see for yourself,” he declared. Lim said the report that the project will soon be operational is no different to the one about the Panglao airport. “We believe it when we see it, but not because it has been reported in the news,” he added.