No overprice in aircon deal

Provincial Legal Officer Handel Lagunay the other day minced no words in shooting down another fabricated story that there was overprice in the purchase of air conditioning units for the Bohol Cultural Center. Lagunay was reacting to a story that came out in a local paper alleging that the air-conditioning project overshot its budget, that its price has ballooned to P5 million: P3,757,660 for the units plus P1.3 million advanced to the Bohol Light Co., Inc. (BLCI) for energization. But Lagunay pointed out that the paper itself itemized the air-con costs to total P3.4 million only. The amount already includes P2,076 million for the units, P281,000 for the installation cost contracted by Galos Refrigeration, P996,898 for electrical materials purchased from Malmis, P283,958 for other electrical materials, P10,183 for drill bits and P108,700 for labor done by administration. Since the approved budget for the contract (ABC) is P3.748 million, Lagunay said the province even gets outright savings of P346,994.

The amount advanced to BLCI is not part of the project. BLCI is supposed to provide the transformers, power lines and others to energize the air-con units. But since it did not have the funds for the purpose, and considering that the need was immediate, the provincial government advanced the money to procure the materials, he explained. BLCI will reimburse the amount on installment basis by deducting 20 percent of the monthly electric bill until the amount is fully paid. The amount advanced will also bear interest at six percent per annum, he added. Contrary to the paper's other allegation that an influential group swayed the actions of the Lagunay-led Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), the lawyer said no such group exists. However, he said some concerned citizens volunteered some information. The BAC acted on the basis of information it actively gathered and on the relevant information volunteered by such citizens.

Lagunay maintains that, “the procurement through limited source bidding was a ‘knee-jerk' reaction” based only on hearsay and with no probative value” is not the case. Instead, the decision was based on verifiable data obtained by the BAC, he said. Price quotations submitted by bidders from Manila , especially of the winning bidder, prove all Doubting Thomases wrong. The Manila-based distributors quoted amounts lesser than the ABC. A local bidder also submitted a statement that he was asked not to participate in the bidding anymore. Lagunay said the BAC had to act immediately otherwise a bidder or madders might take advantage of the high ABC. He dismissed as mere speculation the article that said “In the end, the total cost would amount more than what was earlier suspected as overly overpriced project estimate.”

“There is no factual basis that the ABC has been exceeded. It was clear that the ABC was too high from the actual prices quoted. This means the provincial government had savings of P1.05 million on the purchase of the units alone since the actual price was only P2,075,940, and another P11,454.15 in the installation,” the legal officer said. Meanwhile, contrary to that newspaper report, the investigation is going on. “In order to avoid any appearance that the result of the investigation is self-serving or biased, and in observance of delicadeza, I, as BAC chair, will not handle the investigation anymore,” he said. As suggested, he added, he is turning over the investigation to Capitol's resident Ombudsman Thaddeus Jose Acero, jointly with the Internal Audit Service headed by Jerome Maniwang as soon as Gov. Erico Aumentado issues the appropriate memorandum.

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