‘4 of 15 Davao City deals with VP-linked firm went through bidding’

MANILA, Philippines— Only four of the 15 food service contracts awarded by Davao City to a corporation linked to Vice President Sara Duterte  went through public bidding,  an official of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) said on Monday.

The rest, according to prosecution witness and PhilGEPS Electronic Government Procurement Operations Division chief Rendell Sopeña, were awarded  to GenCorp Industries Inc.  “through negotiated small-value procurement.”

Duterte listed the company in her  statement of assets, liabilities and net worth although  her name did not appear as part of  GenCorp’s corporate documents.

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“Sa mga kontrata ng Davao City LGU na inaward sa GenCorp, ilan po ang hindi dumaan sa public bidding?” Senator-judge  Risa  Hontiveros asked the witness.

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(“Of the contracts awarded by the Davao City LGU to GenCorp, how many did not go through public bidding?”)

“If I remember it right, 11 po ang hindi dumaan sa public bidding,”  Sopeña said.

(“If I remember correctly, 11 did not go through public bidding.)

He then enumerated the costs of the 11 negotiated small-value procurement contracts as follows: P501,600, P414,000, P249,000, P49,800, P498,000, P805,500, P381,000, P508,000, P381,000, P254,000, P554,000.

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“So roughly mga nasa P8 million or P7 million siguro po ito,”  the  witness said.

(So roughly, it would be around P8 million or P7 million.)

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For the 15 contracts awarded by Davao City,  Sopeña said the total amount  was P34. 216 million.

“And out of this po, yung apat po is yung public bidding. So may P5,000,000, P6,000,000, 9,000,000 …,” Sopeña also said.

(“And out of this, four went through public bidding. So there were contracts worth P5 million, P6 million, and P9 million…)

The 15 were part of the 49 contracts awarded by government offices in the Davao Region— 33 contracts worth P1,331,288 were from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation- Region 11, and only one procurement worth P331,000 was awarded by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Region 11. 

The 49 contracts cost a total of P35,878,188, the witness  told the court the last week

During defense lawyer Roberto Batungbacal’s cross-examination, however, the witness was asked whether he found any irregularity in the awarded contracts.

House lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro interjected, saying that the witness was not competent to answer whether or not the  contracts were irregular.

She also reiterated that his testimony was limited only to what appears in the PhilGeps system. 

“As to whether they are irregular or regular, it is beyond the scope of the testimony. It is beyond the knowledge of the witness, Your Honor,” Luistro  pointed out.

But Presiding Officer and Sen. Francis  Escudero  allowed the witness to answer the question, saying he would also like to know “if from their point of view, they can see any absence of compliance, whether you call it irregularity or lack of compliance.”

“The oversight and compliance is not part of the mandate of the PhilGeps office. We are merely the repository of the procurement data, sir,” replied Sopeña. /gsg