School project bidding mess: DepEd executives sued before Ombudsman

CEBU, Philippines – Three top regional officials of Department of Education and seven members of DepEd-Cebu Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) are now facing a complaint before the Ombudsman over the alleged anomalous furniture projects totaling P45 million.

JEC Lumber Corporation, through its lawyer Manuelito S. Inso, filed a complaint against DepEd-7 Director Recaredo Borgonia, Cebu Provincial School Division Superintendent Arden Monisit and former provincial school division superintendent Serena Uy.

Included in the complaint are DepEd-Cebu Bids and Awards Committee chairman Judiana Corriente and members Romualdo Abella, Daria Sarsalejo, Norberto Torbeso, Willie Adonay, Jr., Salud Luna and Gerardo Mantos.

Borgonia, officer-in-charge of DepEd-7, had served as provincial schools division superintendent from January 2004 to January 2008.

Uy was the school division superintendent of DepEd-Cebu from January 2008 until his retirement in January 2009. She was replaced by Monisit.

In its complaint, JEC Lumber said the biddings of DepeD-7 for school furniture projects in 2006 (amounting to P13 million), in 2007 (worth P17 million), and in 2008 (amounting to P14 million) were anomalous.

The DepEd officials had denied any anomaly in the biddings.

The complainant said anomalies were noted in the school furniture project in 2006 when Borgonia served as the provincial school division superintendent.

Borgonia and the BAC reportedly declared JEC Lumber ineligible as the documents it submitted were not authenticated.

JEC Lumber then filed a motion for reconsideration, saying it submitted a notarized certificate of authenticity together with other documents.

Corriente and Borgonia, according the complainant, unjustly denied its motion for consideration.

Only CA Bato Furniture and Gala Industries, Inc. were qualified to bid after the eligibility check.

The complainant claimed that BAC declared CA Bato Furniture as the lowest bidder, saying CA Bato was also disqualified during the post-qualification process and the P13-million project was unfairly awarded to Gala Industries, Inc.

It also accused Uy of having involved in anomalies surrounding the P17-million school furniture project in 2007.

The furniture projects were the center of controversy after the chairs and desks found to be defective and sub-standard.

JEC Lumber accused BAC of deviating from the standard bidding procedure as mandated by Republic Act 9184, known as the Procurement Law, in favor of Gala Industries, Inc

It also accused DepEd officials and BAC members of failing to comply with the law as they failed to post the bidding for the furniture projects at the Government Electronic Procurement Service.

On June 26, 2008, DepEd-Cebu caused the publication of an Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid (IAEB) for its 2007 school furniture project.

The project was divided into five lots/contracts and the total approved budget for the contract was P17,758,620.00

But during the pre-bid conference, Corriente announced that the BAC had decided to bid the project as single contract and not as five separate contracts, contrary to what was published in the IAEB.

JEC Lumber and other bidders registered their opposition.

But Corriente countered that it would be easier for them to award the project to only one bidder rather than to five different bidders.Despite the opposition of some contractors, the bid pushed through and the BAC determined JEC Lumber as the lowest bidder at P11,228,446.60.

The next lowest bidder was Ramagal Door and Sash Manufacturing at P17,359,963.00 while the bid of Gala Industries, Inc. was the highest at P17,683,555.00.

But BAC then allegedly disqualified JEC Lumber and Ramagal Door and Sash Manufacturing during post-qualification and favored Gala Industries, Inc.

Based on the Notice of Post-Disqualification, BAC stated that it disqualified JEC Lumber as it provided false information regarding the date of the completion of its furniture project in 2005.

BAC said there was no Certificate of Final Acceptance signed by Borgonia and veracity in the Authority of Signatory (Secretary’s Certificate).

JEC Lumber then filed a motion for reconsideration. But BAC denied its motion and eventually awarded the project to Gala Industries, Inc.

Monisit reportedly signed BAC’s letter that disqualified JEC Lumber and its joint venture partner, Ramagal Doors and Sash Manufacturing.

“The respondents trampled the rights of JEC Lumber Corporation which was unjustly disqualified in both 2007 and 2008 school furniture project of Dep-Ed Cebu province. The respondents should, thus, be held liable for their graft and corrupt practices,” the complainant said. — /LPM (THE FREEMAN)