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Thursday, January 19, 2006
Contracts debate threatens Capitol’s project
Should the governor still submit the contract for construction of the Cebu International Convention Center to the Provincial Board (PB)?
Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. said Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia might just go ahead with it without the board, but he “personally feels” she should let the PB review the contract.
The Capitol conflict on whether contracts need prior legislative authority remains pending with the court. Garcia’s stand is that contracts for items already in the annual appropriations ordinance need not pass PB scrutiny, as provided for in the new government procurement law.
But if Sanchez has his way, he said it would be best to let this pass through the board to avoid questions that might be raised, especially by her political opponents.
Anyway, he told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview in Bantayan Island, the project already has the backing of majority of the board members.
“Contracts need (the support of a) simple majority and as presiding officer, I have an idea of the stand of the members. As far as I know, only four or five will vote against it because politics will always come into play,” said Sanchez.
In a separate interview last night, Garcia said she would rather not fuel speculations about the matter as this might cause a lot of talk and hostile feelings.
“But let this be said, I am always consistent in my actions,” she said over the phone.
She has previously entered into contracts, such as the ones for the outsourcing of medical personnel and engineering work, as well as for security and janitorial services.
However, she explained that the contract for architect Alexus Medalla will certainly be presented to the PB because this was already forwarded to the secretary’s office before the new law on government procurement was implemented.
The contract was forwarded to the board but was never scheduled for deliberation, so it was not really disapproved, just taken over by events such as the elections.
The Capitol is rushing work for the international center so this can be used in time for the Asean summit this December.
An invitation to bid has already been published for contractors for the first phase, costing P100 million. This includes the cleaning or site development and the foundation, among others.
Bids will be opened this Feb. 13, and work will start by end of Feb.
Sanchez, an engineer, is confident they can finish it by assigning three shifts of workers so construction will be done 24 hours.
The building is targeted to rise by November.
Though the original spinning disc design for a multi-use center is still being used with refinements, only the convention center portion of the building will be functional by this year, if plans are carried out without hitches. (JPM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 19, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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