Thursday, October 05, 2006 Spare my bro: Mayor appeals to the media on new gov't center brouhaha By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
EVEN before the City Government could call for the bidding of the New Government Center of Bacolod City and even before a building plan could be approved and constructed, both Mayor Evelio Leonardia and his brother Prospero are already pelleted with criticisms.
This prompted the mayor to call on his critics to spare his brother who recently went through a heart bypass operation.
Critics said that Prospero, an architect by profession, was seen talking with Efren Canlas in one of the hotels in Bacolod in the past weeks.
Canlas is a former executive officer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and now the proprietor-owner of the Quezon City-based Hilmarcs Construction Company, which constructed the SM Mall of Asia, now one of the biggest shopping malls in Southeast Asia.
It appeared that Hilmarcs is also one of the 13 firms that submitted a letter of intent to bid for the construction of the P400-million new government center at the five-hectare lot donated by the Gonzaga family in Barangay Villamonte.
Leonardia on Wednesday appealed to reporters covering the city hall to spare his brother from the criticisms as he hinted that the renewed attacks are nothing but a revival of the "Familia Incorporada" issue, which once caused his downfall in the 1995 local election.
"It's so unfair for Pros to be always tagged as a "weeping boy" of my administration," the mayor said in yesterday's press conference.
He added that from the time the City Council approved the project and the City's application for a P400-million loan with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), he never met his elder brother.
The mayor tagged the radio reports and commentaries on his brother's "pre-involvement" in the bidding as a mere "demolition job" aimed at destroying his chances of winning in next year's election.
"I won't be surprised later if another contractor will be linked to my brother Cesar and another one to Dan Leonardia," he said.
BAC decision
Leonardia asked the media not to preempt the bidding, which will be held on December 27 yet.
The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) is the body that will determine the winning bidder.
Aside from Hilmarcs, the other interested construction groups include the Tokwing Construction Company (Quezon City), Liberty Builders (Makati City), WT Construction (Cebu City), JH Fajara Construction (Pasig), RRI Building Incorporated (Quezon City), Young Builders Corporation (Quezon City), ERN Building General Construction (Cebu City), JN Luciano Construction (Quezon City), Vinnelle Velva Corporation (Makati City), Freelou Construction (Mandaluyong), J.U. Trans and Construction, Incorporated (Cebu City) and Izuno Construction (Ortigas, Mandaluyong).
P100-M capital
As to the eligibility to bid, City Administrator Lorendo Dilag, chief of Task Force New Government Center, said the prospective bidders must have been engaged in the design and build or design-finance-build for the last five years with a minimum paid-up capitalization of P100 million.
They must have also have P250 million worth of completed and on-going projects of the same scheme.
Likewise, they will be asked of Conceptual Design of the Project to be submitted to the Technical Working Committee and Office of the Mayor on or before October 9 for preliminary screening.
Dilag added that the BAC shall use later the pass/fail criteria to determine the eligibility of prospective bidders.
The City Government then reserves the right to reject any application for eligibility or all bids without any reason, waive any required formality therein, and to make an award to the bidder whose proposal is most advantageous to the City Government.
The City won't also assume any obligation to compensate the bidder/s for any expenses that they may incur in the preparation of the bid/s.
A non refundable protest fee of P100,000 and protest bond equivalent to 10% of the project cost are required in case of protest or disagreement with the action of the BAC, to protect the city from unnecessary delay and nuisance bidders.
Okay
As to the site classification, Dilag said there is no problem in the issue that the area, where the New Government Center will be built, is still classified as Residential.
Under the City's Zoning Ordinance, the institutional building/s must be erected only in commercial or industrial areas.
Dilag said the new government center will not pose any danger in the community, "so its only okay to build the said facility in the residential area because it always has also compatible functions with that of schools, houses, among others that are also allowed to rise within residential areas."
"I've already queried this matter from City Architect Reynaldo and he said: "It's okay! No problem."
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