FORGED! Bidding docs for landscape design deal falsified, critic says

TOP OFFICIALS of the Iloilo Provincial Government allegedly falsified the bidding documents for the P1.58-million contract for the design consultancy for the ongoing landscaping project on the Capitol premises, former Provincial Administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada claimed last weekend.

In an interview with “The Daily Guardian on Air” over Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo on Nov 24, 2018, Mejorada said he obtained the “smoking gun” in the procurement and award of the contract to PGAA Creative Design in March and April 2017.

“The Bids and Awards Committee chaired by Atty. Dennis Ventilacion made it appear that Ascott Pacific Consultants Inc., a reputable landscape architectural firm in the national capital region, was the winning bidder as published on the PhilGEPS website and then falsified the BAC resolution to award it to PGAA owned by Paolo G. Alcazaren,” Mejorada claimed.

PhilGEPS stands for the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System which maintains a website where all invitations to bid, notices of award and other significant events for every contract are published as part of its transparency and accountability mandate.

Mejorada said a “Request for Expression of Interest” for the landscape design  contract was published on the PhilGEPS website on March 10, 2017 which also set the date for the bidding on March 20, 2017.

A check on the “Documents Request List” and “Awards Notices Abstract” on the same PhilGEPS posting showed that Ascott Pacific was the lone bidder and was subsequently awarded the contract.

However, BAC Resolution No. 33-L dated April 28, 2017 “showed erasures with the use of white correction fluid with an unidentifiable signature that indicate a ‘criminal intent’ to hide the supposed participation of Ascott Pacific Consultants Inc.,” Mejorada said.

In fact, the portion of the resolution recommending the award of the contract to the “highest rated responsive bidder” was erased with white correction fluid, and the name “PGAA Creative Design” was handwritten on the blank space, Mejorada said.

“This is forgery,” he added.

The allegedly forged document bore the approval and signature of Governor Arthur D. Defensor Sr.

DENIAL

Mejorada said that with the help of Bombo Radyo Iloilo through Area Manager Warren French and Chief of Anchors Don Dolido, he was able to communicate with Belen N. Gacad, managing director of Ascott Pacific Consultants Inc. and learned that the company never took part in that procurement.

“Ms. Gacad vehemently denied her company submitted an expression of interest for this contract and neither did it go through the process of the bidding,” Mejorada said.

Mejorada said that the forgery could have been a ploy for PGAA Creative Design to get around the PhilGEPS requirement that bidders must have a registration or accreditation number from the agency.

“In our conversation with Ms. Gacad, she mentioned that PGAA had no PhilGEPS registration for the years 2017,” Mejorada said.

Mejorada said that the public bidding for the design services was just a simulation of a competitive process for the contract because as early as January 2016, or more than one year previously, Defensor had already met with Alcazaren to talk about the landscaping project.

In fact, the provincial government website, iloilo.gov.ph, carried a press release showing Alcazaren making a presentation of his master plan design before Defensor and members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on December 9, 2016.

“In short, the entire transaction was a done deal before the supposed public bidding, which is a violation of R.A. 9184,” he said.

This is a mockery of the basic principle in R.A. 9184 that all procurements must undergo a competitive public bidding, he added.

FALSIFICATION

Mejorada alleged that Defensor committed three of the eight manners by which falsification of public documents by a public official under Art. 171 of the Revised Penal Code is made:

-Causing it to appear that persons participated in any act or proceeding when they did not in fact so participate.

-Making untruthful statements in a narration of facts.

-Making any alterations in a genuine document which changes its meaning.

He said he is filing a criminal complaint before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for a thorough fact-finding investigation, especially for a forensic examination of the forged document to determine who actually did it, and whose signature appears on the erasures on the document.

“I will also request the Commission on Audit to issue a Notice of Disallowance on any payments made to Alcazaren because the contract was void ab initio,” Mejorada said.

SOURCE: The Daily Guardian

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