Winning bidder in P487-M NAIA project disqualified, seeks probe

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – A contractor who allegedly won the bidding for a P487-million surveillance camera project for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) but was later disqualified is asking the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to investigate the matter.

Rea Lactao, president and general manager of Annex Digital Inc., said she was surprised by the disqualification, when her company had won the bidding for the supply of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the airport.

In a letter to retired Maj. Gen. Vicente Guerzon, chairman of the MIAA bids and awards committee, Lactao identified a MIAA consultant who allegedly persuaded the bids and awards committee to declare a failure of bidding, apparently to favor a losing bidder. 

Lactao demanded a probe of the consultant for allegedly manipulating the bidding.

The letter said the consultant was allowed to handle the technical evaluation of the P487-million project, although his function was advisory. 

Lactao said in 2013, MIAA sent the consultant abroad to undergo training on the CCTV project.

“After the training, he was hired by a foreign company and we believe he could still be working with the company,” she said in her appeal.

She claimed the same consultant was responsible for requiring during the bidding a “specific Israeli brand of camera and other equipment whose distributor refuses to sell to others.”

Lactao said the consultant allegedly manipulated a document tracking system that prevented bidders from downloading the annexes of the terms of reference of the project, to favor his bidder.

She said the move of the consultant could delay the installation of the needed CCTV system at the NAIA.

Lactao said she also forwarded copies of her letter to Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and MIAA general manager Jose Angel Honrado.