Ayala, Aboitiz urge Palace to settle impasse on P35.4-B Cavite-Laguna toll road

MANILA, Philippines - The tandem of Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc. through Team Orion has urged Malacanang to settle the impasse on the proposed P35.4-billion Cavite-Laguna expressway (Calax) brought about by the appeal filed by San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

The Ayala-Aboitiz’s Team Orion filed a motion last Monday urging President Aquino to decide whether it would accept or dismiss the appeal of SMC on the disqualification of Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. (OIDI).

Based on the appeal filed by OIDI before the Office of the President, SMC wants the project awarded to the company, having submitted the highest bid of P20.1 billion for the project being undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“Should the President decide to grant OIDI's appeal, Team Orion will respect such decision and commits to abide by it without legal recourse. Team Orion hopes that OIDI will also extend the same courtesy to the President should the President decide to reject its appeal and uphold the DPWH decision,” Team Orion said in a statement.

Team Orion is against a rebidding since this would violate the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) Law.

“As Team Orion sees it, a rebidding would require this Honorable Office to employ an unprecedented resort to fine print in the Instruction to Bidders that the DPWH reserves the right to reject any or all bids,” the companies stated in the motion. 

They added that a rebidding would also violate Section 11.9 of the BOT Law that states that a rebidding is proper only if there is a failure of bidding.

“A failure of bidding at this stage means that no complying bids are received by the grantor/ implementing agency. However, no such failure of bidding has occurred,” Team Orion said in the motion filed by the Gatmaytan Yap Patacsil Gutierrez & Protacio Law office.

President Aquino made a pronouncement last week that Malacanang was inclined on rebidding the project due to the appeal filed by SMC. 

It would be recalled that Team Orion submitted the highest bid of P11.659 billion followed by MP CALA Holdings Inc. of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) with P11.33 billion, and Malaysian-owned Alloy MTD Philippines with P922 million.

On the other hand, OIDI was disqualified through a June 11 resolution issued by the Bids and Awards Committee of the DPWH due to a defect in its bid as its bid security was short of the 180-day validity period requirement as its security was valid only until Nov. 25, 2014 instead of the required Nov. 29, 2014. 

The DPWH did not open the bid of OIDI as it was disqualified from the bidding process. The diversified conglomerate opened its financial bid of P20.105 billion for the PPP project in the presence of the media in Manila Hotel. 

SMC filed a 37-page Notice of Appeal before the Office of the President last June 27docketed under OP Case No. 14-G129. Malacanang issued a “Stay Order” last June 30, stopping the DPWH from implementing a June 11 resolution disqualifying Optimal Infrastructure from the bidding of the public.

Team Orion reiterated that OIDI’s appeal should be dismissed and the decision of DPWH to disqualify the SMC unit should be upheld on the grounds that its bid was not only deficient but was also not reviewed for technical compliance. 

Moreover, it argued that OIDI broke the chain of custody by removing its bid from DPWH, ultimately spoiling its own bid. 

Team Orion said the resolution of the long-drawn impasse would allow the vital infrastructure initiative to proceed. 

“Cognizant of the critical state of the country's infrastructure, Team Orion seeks to prioritize the roll-out of key infrastructure projects in line with its own objective of being a partner in Philippine economic development,” it added.