THE City Government of Bacolod has started the bidding process for the implementation of the three of its four priority projects to be funded by the P1.7 billion loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
These are the development of Progreso Village Relocation Site worth P350 million; Bacolod City College site development and facilities, P350 million; and construction of roads and bridges, P200 million.
The fourth is the development of Bacolod MassKara Coliseum worth P800 million.
City Assessor Maphilindo Polvora, chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (Bac), said on Monday, February 25, some prospective bidders have already secured the bidding forms for the implementation of the three projects.
“We already conducted the pre-bid conference for the three projects, advertised the invitation to bid in a newspaper and posted it on the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System,” Polvora said.
The prospective bidders purchased the bid documents at Bac office.
The bid should be responsive and calculated in accordance with the plan of the end-user, he pointed out.
In December 2018, the City Council ratified the term loan agreement and continuing deed of assignment with a hold-out agreement between the City Government and the DBP.
Polvora said the DBP will only release the loan once there’s already a winning bidder for those projects.
There's no schedule yet of bidding for the Bacolod MassKara Coliseum.
It can be recalled that a civil complaint involving the P1.7 billion loan, which will fund the city’s four flagship projects, was filed in January.
Named respondents were Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran; Councilors Caesar Distrito, Cindy Rojas, Renecito Novero, Em Ang, Elmer Sy, Ana Marie Palermo, Dindo Ramos, Bartolome Orola, Sonya Verdeflor, Lady Gles Gonzales-Pallen, and Ayesha Joy Villaflor; City Council Secretary Vicente Petierre III; City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe; City Budget Officer Maria Imelda Williams; City Accountant Corazon Cardel; and DBP Negros Occidental Lending Center head Bernardo Catillion Jr.
It was former vice mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, former councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, and businessman Antonio Wong who filed the civil case for certiorari, prohibition, and annulment of contract with a prayer for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and/or preliminary mandatory injunction.
Lawyer Cesar Beloria Jr., spokesperson of the complainants’ legal team, earlier said they would like to annul the contract between the DBP and the city government, and has sought a temporary restraining order and the preliminary injunction not to release the funds.
Leonardia maintained that those who opposed the projects are anti-people and anti-progress.