‘Bid-less’ Borongan road projects questioned

BORONGAN CITY — Concerned citizens are questioning two road projects here for their alleged implementation by the city government without the benefit of a public bidding.

Former Eastern Samar Gov. Marcelo Picardal said the alleged practice of the city government has raised a lot of red flags for going against the normal government procurement procedures.

The two road projects being questioned are the road concreting of Hebacong-Benowangan Road Phase II worth P30 million and the road opening in Barangay San Andres to Barangay San Pablo with an approved budget of P40 million.

A social media post by a “whistleblower” going by the pseudonym Jobert Cardona — a registered civil engineer and contractor by trade — first brought attention to the allegation.

In an exchange of chat messages, Cardona said some contractors are unable to purchase bidding documents because they are being withheld on the alleged order of Borongan City Mayor Dayan Agda.

This reporter tried to arrange an interview with Agda through Borongan City Information Officer Rupert Ambil but was told that the mayor was traveling.

Cardona said that in the case of the concreting of the Hebacong-Benowangan Road Phase II, the closing of bid was only last 26 February 2024, but two weeks later, the project was already complete.

“We went to the site two weeks after the bidding but saw that the construction was already complete. This is impossible because after the bidding, there should be a

post-qualification that normally lasts for a week before a notice of award and notice to proceed are issued,” Cardona said.

“This only means that the project implementation started long before the public bidding was posted in PhilGEPS,” he said.

In the case of the road opening in Barangay San Andres to Barangay San Pablo, the notice posted at the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) shows that the opening of the bid was scheduled for Monday, 13 May 2024.

However, the actual work was almost complete as confirmed by this report going to the project site.

Last month, Picardal, the current president of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE), sent a letter to the Eastern Samar provincial auditor, the city auditor and the regional office of Commission on Audit to ask them to investigate the city government over the projects.

“It is my belief that this implementation of projects prior to or without bidding is being practiced by the city government to discourage would-be contractors from joining the bidding of projects implemented by the city because the project is nearly finished,” Picardal said in his letter.