That as the officers also dared its critics, including businessman Simplicio Palanca and former vice mayor Ramiro Garcia to first look into Hilmarcs bid in detail and not allow themselves to giving rough estimates.
Hilmarcs also lowered its P398-million bid by P4 million and submitted it to the Bids and Awards Committee Monday.
The committee is expected to re-examine the bid and submit its recommendation to Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia Tuesday.
In an interview Monday, Hilmarcs corporate counsel Rogelio Peig II and Executive Vice President Antonio Garcia said their bid and their designs is beyond question.
"We can't afford to gamble the name, credibility and integrity that we have built in the field," Peig said.
He added that Hilmarcs capability and legitimacy can be proven through its track record, which is "definitely beyond question."
Even though criticisms were made for the P398-million Hilmarc bid for Bacolod's government center, Peig said that Hilmarcs officers remain confident that they have not violated anything.
"Hilmarcs is a qualified contractor with track records to support our standing. Second, we have complied all rules and regulations on the bidding and so we assure Bacoleños that we will get the job done for this new government center," he said.
Peig stressed that Hilmarcs chairman Nelson Canlas wants to build a legacy in Bacolod by making the new government center a worthy project for Bacoleños.
"We already included some of the quality items to be used from door knobs to floor tiles, including the newest Australian technology that would contain cracks in the building," Garcia said.
The bids committee through its Technical Working Group will examine the final bid price and its corresponding detailed estimates on materials to be used for the proposed three-storey government center.
It will then submit its recommendation to Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who has the authority to approve it.
If approved, Garcia said, "We can even start the project construction even if there's no downpayment yet. What is important for us are the approved documents that will serve as signal for us to start."
Detailed, itemized
Peig said their detailed and itemized estimates in constructing the new government center is beyond question.
"We carefully made the costing not on a per-square-meter basis as what others are saying but based on the terms of reference given to us by the City through the design and build scheme," he said.
He also said that Hilmarcs cannot settle for a rough estimate or an estimate that is prevailing in a given locality.
"If the Pragmatic Development and Construction Corporation said is that it can build the new government center at only P320 million and lawyer Simplicio Palanca and former vice mayor Ramiro 'Chick' Garcia for only P220 million, well, what we can say is that we can't simply settle on a rough or budgetary estimate only," Peig explained.
The lawyer also dared Pragmatic, Palanca and the former vice mayor to go over Hilmarcs bid and evaluate its estimates.
Taxes
Peig also explained that the bid they gave is already inclusive of the taxes it has to pay to the local and national governments.
These include the five percent automatic VAT (value added tax) deduction, 2 percent expanded withholding tax, one percent local government tax and the income tax.
For the one percent local government tax, 70 percent will to the City of Bacolod and 30 percent will go to Quezon City where the Hilmarcs main office is based.
For the income tax, out the 10 percent legitimate marked up price on the project, 35 percent will go to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Not probed by congress
Peig also belied reports that Hilmarcs is being probed by Congress for its Iloilo Capitol project three years ago.
"No! Congress or AKBAYAN Representative Risa Baraquer is not probing us and it's not true that there were already five Congressional hearings conducted for the alleged anomalies on the Iloilo Capitol construction and on our company," he claimed.
He added that Congress invited Hilmarcs officials twice, April 5 and September 12 this year, as resource speakers.
"We are not subjects of the inquiry," he clarified, adding they only became like "bench warmers" in Congress.
Peid added that the Commission on Audit (COA) had already declared in Congress that the construction of the Iloilo capitol is not overpriced.
"If there was changes on the actual cost of the construction of the capitol, it was not because of the alleged additional price that we imposed but because of the additional work plans implemented by the Provincial Government of Iloilo," he added.
Signature projects
Peig also clarified that the cracks discovered on the roof of the Capitol building has nothing to do with the soundness and stability of the structure, as reportedly certified by an independent consulting firm.
This firm also reportedly attested that the cracks are non-structural defects but were only caused by last year's earthquake.
Among the signature projects of Hilmarcs are the Mall of Asia in Manila, GMA 7 building in Quezon City, Rockwell Center in Makati and the Calamba City Hall.
