PROVINCIAL Administrator Mark Tolentino said that the Capitol will now cut the collection time of suppliers to discourage price increases of delivered items.
Tolentino said the lengthy process in collecting payments prompted some suppliers, including heavy equipment suppliers, to increase prices of items delivered to local government units like the Cebu Provincial Government.
“When you really look at (the situation), naa gyud tendency nga mas mahal ang costing basta mo supply ka sa gobyerno (there is a tendency that the cost of items is high when it is supplied to the government),” Tolentino said, referring to the Capitol suppliers.
Tolentino said that payments to suppliers, as agreed, are to be made after a month or two. But in reality, Tolentino said, these will probably take more than the period agreed upon by the Capitol and the supplier.
He said when he took over as bids and awards committee (BAC) chair, he still signed check payments for goods delivered a year ago.
He said it needs a businessman with huge capital if the collection of payments would take longer time.
“Og ang supplier lawom-lawom og bulsa, meaning i-add on na sad niya ang cost of money kay iya na nang gi-anticipate (If the supplier only has enough capital, then the items’ cost will increase as he/she anticipates that) it’s going to take six months to be paid,” Tolentino told reporters.
“Wa man ta kahibawo kung unsay ilang consideration nganong ana kaubos ang ilang gi-offer (We do not know what are the considerations of the company on why it is offering such a low price),” said Tolentino when asked why BAC chose ConEquip’s P5.1-million bid price per heavy equipment unit despite the P2.6 million per unit offer of Mighty Brother.
Mighty Brother, though, did not participate in the Capitol bidding process for its P253-million heavy equipment project.
The Provincial Board (PB) ad hoc committee headed by PB Member Grecilda Sanchez invited Tolentino and Provincial General Service Office (PGSO) Head Siegfred Jon Sepe to shed light on the bidding process.
Tolentino said legislators just want to be apprised of the process and if all legal requirements were observed.