Tacit

I do not see the point of splitting hairs over whether President Aquino gave the go-ahead for the tragic SAF mission in Mamasapano. It is a matter interesting only for the crisis propaganda team in the Palace.

Now facts on the public record, the SAF commander was called to the President’s residence (or shooting range, which might be one and the same thing) at least twice to discuss the operational details of the plan to get terrorist Marwan. We do not know how many other times Gen. Alan Purisima met and discussed the matter with the Chief Executive.

These were not idle meetings. Whether the President understood the full gravity of these meetings, they were crucial interfaces.

The President was fully briefed about the law enforcement operation. That in itself is commendable.

The President was keenly interested in the details of the operation. That is his duty. We must commend him for that.

He is, after all, Commander-in-Chief. The fact that these meetings took place tells us that he did not object to the operation. He understood the plan and the perils posed. He did not abort the plan.

Therefore, by common reasoning, he approved of it. He allowed its execution. He did not utter the word “go ahead.” He did not sign some formal approval although he should have, to put the presidential imprimatur on a large and vital undertaking.

Nevertheless, he owns this operation. He is, after all, Commander-in-chief. He has final responsibility.

By not ordering the operation cancelled or aborted, Aquino tacitly approved of it. There was no need to articulate approval. His only role, after being briefed, was to abort a plan if it was faulty or allow it to go if he found the plan adequate.

It is important to clarify the role of Commander-in-Chief. That is distinct from the other roles that pertain to being Chief Executive.

The national police follows its own chain of command. The military follows its own chain of command. Both chains are linked at the top by the Commander-in-Chief. That makes the principle of “unity in command” a reality.

Justice Secretary de Lima offered a strange theory before the Senate. She said that the police does not have a proper chain of command, the concept being native to a military organization. That is a strange and surprising theory, adding to the many bizarre theories she already articulated. She might as well have declared the role of Commander-in-Chief abolished.

So let us not split hairs any more about whether a go-ahead was given. If the Commander-in-Chief lets the operation go, he has approved of it. All the glory and all the failings are in his hands.

Haste

The reason why competitive public biddings are held is to ensure the price is right and the public gets the most for the taxpayer money expended.

A competitive bidding tells us where the just price for a good or a service lies. Without a bidding (or auction), the just price cannot be uncovered.

The first principle, therefore, is to ensure a fair and open bidding happens. That is most important, far more than observing some minor technicality.

The reason the Comelec-Smartmatic deal is so controversial is because the poll body avoided bidding it out. The reason the Calax project has been delayed so many precious months is because the DPWH grabbed upon a typographical error in the bid document to disqualify a bidder willing to pay government P9 billion more than the next bidder.

The Bureau of Customs (BoC) courts the same sort of controversy, the same sort of public outcry, we saw in other bidding exercises reduced to single bidders by invoking an unimportant requirement to produce the same single-bidder situation. This refers to a P500 million contract to help computerize Customs operations.

Five bidders were initially found eligible to participate in the bidding. The five bidders were nearly all consortia, involving local firms and their respective foreign partners. The five are: eKonek Pilipinas, Indra Sistemas, ePLDT, Globe’s Innove Communications and a relative newcomer in the industry called Omni Prime.

Eventually, the BoC’s screening committee decided to disqualify four of the bidders — all of them respectable players in the IT field — leaving Omni Prime as the only bidder left standing. Whatever price/value equation Omni Prime offers, therefore, no matter how ridiculous it might be, will win the bid.  This is because there is no other benchmark for us to determine the just price.

The reason offered for disqualifying the four heavyweights is that their respective foreign partners failed to submit tax declaration documents. Those foreign partners do not have operations in the country yet and could not conceivably owe our BIR anything.

Some in the screening committee think this matter is more important than having a fair and competitive bid exercise. We disagree.

The BoC should have exerted more effort to cure the shortfalls in the submissions to ensure competitive bidding. Only a competitive bid will make the award of such a large contract publicly acceptable.

The BoC screening committee did not only foreclose the possibility for the other bidders to fully comply with the requirements (trifle as these might seem) or even remove the requirement if it is found unnecessary. That committee now demonstrates indecent haste in getting the exercise done with only one bidder left standing.

Omni Prime was given until tomorrow (Feb. 13) to make its technical submission. That is tantamount to awarding them the contract without competitive bidding.  

This is exactly what happened when the maintenance contract for MRT-3 was awarded to a company with no track record. Things simple went bad.