THE Sangguniang Panlungsod was evidently kept in the dark by the office of the mayor on the controversial bidding and awarding of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) project of the P84 million tourism park building at Magsaysay Park.

This was gleaned from another letter that Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez fired off to City Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued and City Administrator Rafael Baraan seeking more definite answers. (Copy of the new letter can be viewed in Fernandez’s blogsite (http:// alvin.prepys. com).

Clearly dissatisfied with the reply of Baniqued to his December 7 letter, Fernandez wrote to the two anew last December 14, seeking among others a straightforward reply to his query about the status of Metrostate Realty Development Corporation (MRDC).

The vice mayor had alleged earlier that MRDC was not a pre-qualified bidder, being a separate corporation belatedly formed by S and F (Siapno and Feliciano) Realty Corporation and LXS Builders and Supplies (headed by one Alexander Siapno), two of pre-qualified groups that submitted their intent to participate in the bidding.

The vice mayor noted that Baniqued evaded this issue in her December 13 reply.

Fernandez maintained that at the time of the bidding, Metrostate was neither registered nor did it have a Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) license. It was LXS that presented a PCAB license, and the other bidders that failed to submit a license were automatically eliminated by the bidding committee.

The vice mayor asked Baniqued if the PCAB license held by LXS is deemed transferable to MRDC.

In his new letter, Fernandez maintains the provision in the law that mandates that the local government unit shall approve the fees, rentals and charges as specified in the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, was not followed in the bidding that was conducted and assailed the arguments presented by Baniqued which used operation of tollways as an example.

At the same time, the vice mayor pooh-poohed Baniqued’s assumption that each of the 18 establishments to be accommodated in the complex shall be paying P500,000 per year for local taxes, in an effort to justify the awarding of the project without observing the prescribed procedure.

Fernandez said if the city mayor’s people are to be believed, the stall concessions selling coffee, hamburgers and other fast food items must declare total sales of P1.2 billion a year or P100 million a month.

He recalled the city mayor’s office grossly inaccurate financial projections it presented to justify the construction of the P286 million Malimgas Market in 2004. He said the city government is now losing heavily in operating the market.

The vice mayor also pointed out that the document submitted purportedly as a resolution of the Regional Development Council for compliance was in fact a mere resolution of a committee of the council, and not of the council itself. He asked Baniqued to confirm if a mere committee resolution can be deemed a compliance with the law.

Fernandez also asked the city mayor’s office to account for the missing trusses retrieved from the Bugnay Commercial Complex since Baniqued had confirmed that these have already been turned over to the city. He raised the question after a noted private contractor of Mayor Benjamin Lim has already began clearing operations in the area.

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