Nalzaro: A botched midnight deal?

CONTRARY to that full page advertisement that came out in this paper last June 18 issue, which insinuated a “midnight deal” between the outgoing mayor and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) for a waste disposal management system in Cebu City, the “has-been politician” clarified that it was only a proposal of the proponent and not yet a done deal. In a statement, he said that there was no deal at all since his administration was still on the negotiation stage, as required under City Ordinance 2154.

A concerned citizen came up with a full-page advertisement, accusing the outgoing mayor of awarding the certificate of acceptance to MPIC on May 24, 2019 for a solid waste management contract.

It says that MPIC, the winning bidder, proposed the option of Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) with a Material Recovery Facility (MRF), which is inferior to the other proposal to build a waste-to-energy (WTE) facility in the city, which is being used by highly developed countries in Europe or in Japan and Singapore.

The ad also said the MPIC proposal is higher than the proponent of the WTE. The City will pay MPIC P2,150 per ton of garbage while the other proponent offered only P2,048 per ton for the proposed WTE facility. With about 900 tons of garbage output per day in the city, that amounts to a difference of P90,000 per day. The MPIC is owned by the conglomerate of business tycoon Manny Pangilinan, a major campaign fund contributor of the “has-been politician.” The ad insinuated a “payback.”

The “has-been politician” said “there is no deal because negotiations have not been completed.” Last June 17, the joint venture selection committee (JVSC) extended the period of negotiations to July 24, 2019, which grants the new administration full discretion and authority to continue and conclude the negotiations on either an agreement or rejection.

This is also the contention of a prominent Cebuano lawyer who reportedly brokered the deal. In a text message, the lawyer who is liaisoning the other major projects of Pangilinan’s Group of Companies told me that, at present, this is still a proposal and nothing is final yet, saying it’s up to the incoming administration to either accept or reject the proposal.

City Administrator Paul Nigel Villarete also explained that they followed due process and there was no malice in it. He said the process, based on the joint venture ordinance, is evaluation, acceptance, negotiation, successful negotiation, bidding and then the Swiss challenge. If no one will challenge the proposal, awarding follows and then asking the City Council’s authority to award.

Okay, granting that everything is still in the drawing board, why did the outgoing mayor hand a certificate of acceptance to MPIC last May 24? The “has-been politician” lost to Labella in the May 13 elections and he knew that he only has until June 30 at City Hall. If he had delicadeza, he should not have handed the certificate of acceptance and informed the proponent that he would no longer entertain and pursue the proposal because he would no longer be the mayor after June 30.

I can only surmise that the “has-been politician” handed the certificate of acceptance thinking he could speed up the entire process before he stepped down from City Hall despite time constraint. He has still the control of the joint venture selection committee and the City Council. But why did he keep this under wraps? Why he did not make any pronouncement regarding this matter? Had it not been for that full-page advertisement, this would not have been exposed to the media.

Duna gyuy pagsuway nga ipalusot ni. Midnight deal unta ni pero nabuking mao nga wala na lang ihinayon. Ug aron ingnon sila nga limpyo ug graceful exit, ila na lang isalig ang tanan sa sunod nga administasyon. Pagka-marukoy!

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