City forms team to lure more bidders
The Cebu City government will form a special team that would work hand in hand with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce so that the city would have more participants in public biddings.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña said having more participating bidders will curb “corruption” in the government.
“So, I’m forming a special team under Rene Cenapo to work with the chamber of commerce to teach them and to encourage them how to make money out of city hall, and will have more competition here,” he said.
Osmeña came up with such idea after he observed that there were only about two or three participating bidders during public biddings.
However, Osmeña still has to determine his timeline in the formation of the special team.
In every government procurement from P1 million and above, the proceedings shall be done through public bidding.
Recently, the city government has been holding public biddings to get a service provider to haul the city’s trash to the private landfill.
In addition, the creation of the special team is for the future procurement of the city government, like the city’s plan to lease garbage trucks.
Earlier, the DPS asked for a supplemental budget for the rental of heavy equipment amounting to P56 million, which would comprise at least 10 units of garbage trucks and five open dump trucks.
In fact, this idea of Osmeña came out after reporters asked for the status of the P26.8 million that they have set aside for the hauling operation this month, which the government wants to source out from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) funds.
The city council earlier asked clarification from PAGCOR on their new guidelines of charging funds after Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr. authored the resolution for the P26.8 million disbursement for the hauling operation of July.
Osmeña is hopeful that PAGCOR can clarify whether the charging of the P26.8 million should be done through an ordinance or just through a resolution.
The City Council deferred the approval of the resolution until PAGCOR releases a clarification on the requirement for the planned disbursement.
As of the moment, the Department of Public Services is using the remaining P25 million out of their P40 million funds from last month.
Yesterday, DPS Assistant Head John Paul Gelasque said they would already need P25 million by July 27.
Osmeña said that the P26.8 million will be processed through emergency procurement, and not through a public bidding.