Another ‘stinking deal’ in Dagupan?

DAGUPAN CITY — A local newspaper publisher exposed what it claimed was another "stinking deal" of the city government involving a P2.5-million garbage collection contract. The mayor, however, said there was "nothing anomalous" in the deal.

Ermin Garcia Jr., publisher of The Sunday Punch, said the city council unanimously ratified last Monday the contract which Mayor Benjamin Lim entered into with I-Clean, owned by one Charlie Go, for the collection of garbage in 11 barangays, instead of 16, for a period of three months, instead of five.

The Sunday Punch earlier reported that Lim entered into direct negotiation with I-Clean, contrary to the terms which the city council had defined.

The council, the newspaper said, had stipulated that the P2.5-million contract would cover 16 barangays over a five-month period, based on Lim’s letter-request to the council on Aug. 3 last year.

Lim, however, recalled that when he assumed as mayor, the city had just been hit by a typhoon and that the city’s 16 garbage trucks were being used for relief and rescue operations.

"Because of the emergency at hand, I believe the government can do a negotiated contract" so as not to disrupt garbage collection, he said.

I-Clean, he said, offered to do the job for one-and-a-half months even in the absence of any contract. "The deal was in good faith, that he will get paid later for his services," he said.

The deal expired and Lim urged the city council last August to pass a resolution authorizing him to enter into a memorandum of agreement with a private contractor for garbage collection in 16 barangays from Oct. 15 to March 15 this year, at a cost of P2.5 million.

The council failed to act on the request. Last October, a notice of bidding was put out in a local paper but Lim said, "There were no takers."

This prompted Lim to tell Go to continue collecting garbage through a negotiated contract. Go was paid from July to December last year.

Last Jan. 11, Lim and Go signed a contract that would expire March 15.

However, the ratified P2.5-million contract, Garcia said, covered only 11 barangays and three months, thus an alleged discrepancy of P1,468,750.