Candijay bid publication brews graft speculations

EYEBROWS raised anew this week when the Local Government Unit of Candijay published an invitation to bid for P6M worth of equipment in a Manila-based newspaper.

The move sprouted seeds of speculation of an intent to hide the invitation to bid to eliminate possible stiff competition. This way, a favored distributor would ultimately bag the bid as easily. It also came amid widespread perception that government procurement always feeds somebody else's pockets. Seen in this light, Candijay's ploy may work just like any shady deal all right. But Candijay Mayor Sergio Amora, Jr. doused cold water over the alarm by insisting that their move was made as per suggestion from their funding bank. Candijay initially leaked a plan to purchase a fleet of reconditioned heavy equipment for its municipal roads maintenance program.

LandBank approved a P6M loan for the heavy equipment procurement. Candijay's plan consists of buying two six-wheeler dump trucks, a road grader, a 10-tons road roller and a wheel type excavator for a P6M appropriation. To raise prospects of loan amortization better, local leaders also planned to strike a Memorandum of Agreement with the Provincial Government. This way, they could also corner some funds from the Provincial Government's road maintenance by maintaining the provincial roads within the town themselves. As per every transaction going through the usual government processes, local suppliers awaited for the local publication of the invitation to bid. It did not come in Bohol-based papers. Neither did it come out of Cebu based newspapers.

However, as what every local papers and suppliers later realized, Candijay, through Bids and Awards Committee Chair Engr. Alberto G. Bernales, published the Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and To Bid last July 28 and August 4 through Manila-based newspaper Malaya. The publication also posted the delivery period for the equipment in 120 days after the opening of bids, August 25, 2006. In the interview, Amora said he had earlier wanted the publications be made here to benefit the local papers. But upon Landbank's advice, Amora said that they struck a deal to publish with Malaya. Furthermore, he said, because of the huge bid amount and the fact that there are no heavy equipment distributors that could supply for their needed equipment here, the decision to go for Malaya was bolstered and finalized.

During the same interview, Mayor Amora shared that prior to the publication, local officials except one councilor went to Cebu to canvass and seek for the lowest-priced reconditioned and yet still serviceable equipment. This, according to him was still upon LandBank and the Commission on Audit's advice. Observers however find Amora's statements bland because Cebu also hosts good number of reputable importers of reconditioned heavy equipment distributors, which could very well serve Candijay's intents. While a Manila publication entails more expense compared to Cebu based newspapers, a cheaper Cebu publication should open the competitive bidding to Cebu-based distributors.

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