“The respondents’ failure to properly perform their jobs, Clemente lamented, even caused the local government unit to spend more for the collection, hauling and disposal of garbage.”
“You can’t fight City Hall,” goes the conventional wisdom.
That means taking on the powerful in government or the bureaucracy is usually a thankless and futile task.
But in Parañaque City, Mayor Eric Olivarez and 13 other ranking City Hall officials are in for a rude awakening as they face preventive suspension after a concerned resident filed various criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with an allegedly anomalous multimillion-peso contract with a private trash hauler.
In his 25-page complaint, Genaro Clemente, Jr., of Barangay San Antonio, urged Ombudsman Samuel Reyes Martires to immediately suspend Olivarez and all his co-accused “to avoid the destruction or manufacture of evidence and to prevent them from threatening and harassing employees of the local government of Parañaque.”
Apart from the mayor, also charged were members of the bids and awards committee as well as members of the technical working group of BAC.
The controversial contract with Metrowaste Solid Waste Management Corp. was awarded by Olivarez last December 27, 2022.
A whopping P414,803,520 was awarded to the firm which is much higher than that of the previous contractor Leonel Waste Management Corp., who was able to do an excellent job for nine years for only P414,240,004.
While the contact by the previous administration with Leonel was due to expire only on December 31, 2022, Olivarez awarded the multimillion-peso contract to Metrowaste last December 27.
Concerned residents complained after experiencing a sudden change in garbage collection and management resulting in a big stink from uncollected trash, prompting Vice Mayor Joan Villafuerte and two city councilors to deliver privilege speeches lamenting the garbage crisis.
During the public hearing, Villafuerte learned the terms of reference for Leonel required 54 garbage trucks to service the entire city while the TOR for Metrowaste required only 20 small compactor trucks.
Clemente said the bid opening was conducted on December 22, 2022 with the award held a mere five days later, on December 27, 2022, or with seemingly undue haste.
“Did the BAC conduct post-qualification?” Clemente asked
This does not appear to be the case because aside from checking the documents submitted, there must be actual verification, i.e., physically inspecting the garbage trucks declared to determine whether these are exclusively for use in Parañaque.
Even if it is assumed that after the bid opening, post-qualification ensued, two days is not enough to post-qualify Metrowaste, the complaint said. Section 34.3 of the 2016 revised implementing rules and regulations of RA 9184 provide that the post-qualification shall verify, validate, and ascertain all statements made and documents submitted by the bidder with the lowest calculated bid or the highest rated bid, using non-discretionary criteria, as stated in the bidding documents.
Considering the amount of money to be spent by the city government, it would have been prudent for officials to conduct an inspection of Metrowaste and verify its declarations in the submitted bid documents.
This process of post-qualification was not made or if conducted, it was not done judiciously, according to the complaint.
“This is too short a period to post-qualify Metrowaste considering the amount of contract and its subject obligation can be said to be ‘railroaded’.”
Clemente also discovered that one of the documentary requirements of the bid was the mayor’s permit.
There is no question that Metrowaste secured a mayor’s permit as required, but this was issued on December 29, 2022, or after two days from the award made on December 27, 2022.
The decision to give the contract to Metrowaste despite its non-compliance with the mayor’s permit requirement showed the BAC and technical working group’s violation of RA 3019 and deliberately ignored the mandatory instructions on bid evaluation laid down in RA 9184, Clemente said.
He said that Olivarez, before signing the contract, should have first read the provisions thereof and studied the technical specifications.
Clemente said the respondent’s action to substantially downgrade the technical specifications in the new TOR that had now caused the garbage crisis problem is a direct and deliberate violation of the Norms of Conduct of Public Officials and Employees enshrined in RA 9184.
The irregularities observed in this procurement and the numerous violation of laws, not to mention that the act of Olivarez in signing the contract is ultra vires, makes a possible 20 of 25 complaint case for disallowance by the COA pursuant to COA Circular 85-55-A dated September 8, 1985.
The respondents’ failure to properly perform their jobs, Clemente lamented, even caused the local government unit to spend more for the collection, hauling and disposal of garbage.
“Olivarez and his people miserably failed in their mandate, leading to the garbage problem of Parañaque because of their deliberate non-observance of the law.”
(Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)