COA probes Parañaque garbage collection deal

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) is investigating allegations of bid rigging involving the Parañaque City government’s P101-million garbage collection contract, which covers the period from October to December.

COA auditor Teresa Argana, in a Sept. 24 letter to the city government’s bids and awards committee, said a group of residents – headed by a certain Jerry Marcelo – alleged that there was no public notice in the ongoing bidding process for the city’s garbage collection and hauling contract covering the last quarter of the year. The BAC was also reportedly asked by COA to submit a step-by-step abstract of the entire bidding process.

In a statement, BAC chairman and city administrator Fernando Soriano said “no award has been made yet and no contract has been signed, because the lowest bidder is still undergoing post-qualification by the BAC technical working group.”

Soriano also denied Marcelo’s allegations “that the bidding for the contract for the collection, hauling and disposal of garbage was known only to one supplier and that there was absence of competition in the bidding for the said contract.”

On Sept. 24, lone bidder Leonel Waste Management Corp. submitted its P91.6 million bid for the city’s trash collection and disposal services.

Marcelo’s group, however, asked the COA, Mayor Edwin Olivarez and members of the city council to investigate what Marcelo described as an “anomalous and rigged” bidding process that allegedly favored Leonel. Marcelo’s letter was received by the mayor’s office on Sept. 21.

Soriano said he followed the government procurement law’s provisions to the letter. “It is becoming clear that there are unseen hands who wish to discredit the BAC by peddling outright lies and innuendos about the bidding to the public,” he said.

Soriano said an invitation to bid was published in a broadsheet on Aug. 28. The same notice was also duly posted on PhilGEPS, the government’s official procurement website, and on the city government’s own website for seven consecutive days starting on Aug. 28. The notice was also posted on bulletin boards at the city hall’s lobby and second floor.

He also told COA that contrary to reports, three firms secured eligibility documents before the Sept. 4 deadline for submission – IPM Construction and Development Corp., Leonel, and S. M. Coronado Eco-Waste Management Corp. – but only one submitted all the required documents on time.