Overpriced excavator may lead to contract cancellation

Lawyer Handel Lagunay, in his capacity as chair of the Bids and Awards Committee of the province, has intimated last week that if the hydraulic excavator bought by the provincial government to the tune of P9.7 million were found to be overpriced, he will recommend to the governor the cancellation of the contract. The transaction was consummated with the check payment only made two weeks ago.

Lagunay made the disclosure after lawyer Victor de la Serna blew the whistle on what he labeled as a grossly overpriced transaction involving the purchase of the hydraulic excavator. Per his own investigation, de la serna, found out that the excavator and or backhoe with the same brand and specifications can be had for only P6,069,600.00 minus , however, an important accessory called hydraulic breaker.

In the case of the provincial government purchase, the price of P9.7 million already included an hydraulic breaker. Even granting that the back hoe price of P9.7 million, de la serna argued that there is still an overprice of more than P2 million because his estimate of the hydraulic breaker is only P1.2 million.

To support his claim, de la Serna presented to Lagunay a delivery receipt of a recent purchase by a Bohol contractor now doing business in Surigao of a hydraulic excavator bought last September. The receipt showed that it was delivered by Maxima Industries, the same Cebu-based company that delivered the back hoe to the province of Bohol about four months ago.

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