BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – Was the bidding for the Iloilo Convention Center in Iloilo City rigged to favor a contractor?
A congressional investigation can shed light on the matter, said Kabataan party-list’s Rep. Terry Ridon.
He filed House Resolution 1466 seeking an investigation on the dealings of Hilmarc’s Construction Corp. with the government.
Hilmarc’s, contractor of the controversial multibillion-peso parking building in Makati City, is also the contractor of the Iloilo Convention Center currently under construction.
“We want to know the truth behind these dealings,” said Ridon.
Iloilo City’s Sen. Franklin Drilon who lobbied for the convention center distanced himself from the bidding process.
“I had nothing to do with it,” he told reporters before the start of the Senate session yesterday.
But Drilon said he welcomes an investigation.
If Ridon were to be believed, Hilmarc’s bagged the Iloilo Convention Center project through negotiated bidding in December 2013 after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) declared a failure of bidding.
DPWH announced a failure of competitive bidding and subsequent re-bidding of the project’s Phase 1 on July 13, 2013, said Ridon.
The Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) of the convention center was P482.5 million.
Only WT Construction, Inc. and R.D. Policarpio & Co., Inc. were able to submit bids. However, R.D. Policarpio & Co., Inc. did not meet the minimum equipment requirement while WT Construction, Inc. tendered a bid of P495,567,461.79 – higher than the ABC.
“It is disturbing to note that in the competitive bidding, Hilmarc’s did not even participate. But through negotiated procurement, it was able to clinch the project,” claimed Ridon.
On Tuesday, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, also from Iloilo City, urged colleagues to probe Hilmarc’s, this time for its involvement in projects funded by the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
The probe, she said, will assess if DAP funds were diverted to bogus non-governmental organizations or overpriced projects.
Drilon previously confirmed he allocated P200 million and P100 of his Priority Development Assistance Fund and DAP, respectively, to the Iloilo Convention Center project.
Other Hilmarc’s projects in Western Visayas were also mired in controversy. Sometime in 2005, then Iloilo vice governor Roberto Armada sought for an investigation on the construction of the P500-million new Iloilo provincial capitol.
If Ridon were to be believed, Hilmarc’s also failed to deliver the road component of the new city hall of Bacolod City.
OVERPRICED, TOO?
Lidon said the cost of the Iloilo Convention Center “is beyond every Ilonggo’s wildest dreams.”
The party-list representative compared the structure to China’s National Convention Center and the Beijing National Stadium or the Bird’s Nest that hosted the 2008 Olympics.
The construction cost of China’s convention center, Ridon said, was only P6,545 per square meter.
On the other hand, the per square meter cost of the Iloilo Convention Center is P30,149, claimed Ridon.
On Monday, former Iloilo congressman Augusto Syjuco Jr. filed a plunder case against Drilon before the Ombudsman for the alleged overpricing.
Syjuco claimed the convention center was overpriced by more than P600 million.
Drilon’s office shrugged off the charge.
“We won’t dignify (Syjuco’s) malicious accusations,” said Atty. Renato Bantug Jr., Drilon’s chief of staff, in a statement.
He challenged Syjuco to instead “face and answer the serious charges against him in connection with the anomalous transactions and overpricing of equipment during his stint at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).”
Syjuco served as TESDA chief during the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo./PN
