City no longer buying China-made equipment

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has ordered that the city should no longer purchase China- made equipment because it "deteriorates faster."

In a March 10-memorandum, Dr. Ester Concha, chairwoman of the city's Bids and Awards Committee, informed all department heads of the City Hall on the matter.

"During the Bids and Awards Committee -Goods and Services meeting on February 22, 2016, the committee has resolved not to purchase and/ or accept heavy equipment vehicles that are made in China," she said.

Concha said she also received negative feedback on Cebu City's purchases of China-made equipment.

"It was intimated to us that based on our prior ex- perience China- made heavy equipment easily breaks, need high- cost of maintenance, deteriorates faster resulting to damage to the government," she said.

Concha said the city would now rather purchase high- quality equipment that last much longer.

"Actually, gusto sad na ni mayor kay ngano man mamalit ta bisan ingon nga barato lagi pero ang performance or ang quality di maayo, dli ra kaayo maguba. Bahala'g mahal atong mapalit basta brand new," she said.

Concha said most of the vehicles and heavy equip- ment of the city currently have are China-made. She, however, does not have a list of the China-made equipment the city has so far purchased.

She said China- made equipment is usually more than 20 percent cheaper than other brands, which is why they are the ones that get selected during biddings.

To address this, Concha said the BAC- Goods and Services has incorporated in the terms of reference that China-made equipment are not no longer allowed for purchase.

"So, karon amo ibutang na sa terms of reference sa future bidding, iklaro namo nga di na ta modawat og China-made," she said.

When asked of the possibility that there would no longer companies that would participate in bid- dings because of the new requirement, Concha said it would be impossible because Cebu City is a highly-urbanized city.

So far, she said, the city has neither bid out nor already purchased new heavy equipment this year because of the 2016 Annual Budget problem.

There are, however, biddings done last year that involved the purchase of China-made equipment,. Concha said they would be the last.

As of now, the executive department is waiting for the Cebu City Council to deliberate on the revised P9.4 billion 2016 Annual Budget after the Department of Budget and Management has declared the initially approved P6.4 billion budget as "inoperative".