Local contractors are demanding the recall of a memorandum issued by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary authorizing the Bicol regional office to conduct the bidding for infrastructure projects intended for Catanduanes.
In a petition dated March 24, 2025, the 13 contractors called on DPWH Sec. Manuel M. Bonoan to immediately recall his Feb. 20 order authorizing the DPWH regional office to conduct the bidding of projects which are supposed to be bid out and implemented by the DPWH Catanduanes District Engineering Office.
“(I)t will cause the death of our construction business,” the petitioners said, adding that the regional Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) have been unreasonable, unjust, oppressive and known to manipulate the bidding process to award projects to its favored contractors.
The letter cited the difficulties of participating in biddings at the regional office, from the additional expense, strenuous and lengthy travel, and the regional BAC’s treatment of local contractors’ as second-class citizens.
It said records will show that the DPWH 5 BAC has almost always post-disqualified contractors based in Catanduanes for flimsy reasons, with only big mainland contractors favored by a powerful politician awarded the projects.
As a result, the local contractors averred, some of them have closed their businesses for lack of projects over the past three years.
Describing the bidding of projects at the regional office as economic sabotage, they alleged that the bidding process at DPWH 5 is rigged, with the favored contractors awarded projects at bid amounts just 3 percent less than the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC).
Said winning bidders are qualified despite lacking the required equipment and experience of key personnel, the petitioners claimed.
A honest-to-goodness inspection of the mainland contractors’ projects in Catanduanes, they said, would show that not one of them have no existing batching plant on the island.
The complaining contractors said District Engineer Simon Arias’ request that big projects be bid out at the regional office did not state sound and factual reasons, except for his claim that it is needed to fast track the implementation of the projects.
They questioned DE Arias’ failure to reconstitute the district BAC when he knew that its members’ designations would expire by October 2024.
The district BAC could have conducted early procurement activities for CY 2025 projects if such is the case, the petition underscored.
The letter likewise questioned the indefinite postponement of the Nov. 19, 2024 bidding for 2025 projects allegedly due to the effects of typhoon Kristine when the same BAC proceeded with the Nov. 5 bidding.
“Did someone direct DE Arias to postpone the Nov. 19, 2024 bidding indefinitely?” the contractors asked, wondering if there was somebody behind the postponement.
In asking Sec. Bonoan to issue another memo reverting the bidding of infrastructure projects from the regional office to the district, they sought the DPWH chief’s understanding and consideration as the bidding will have a great impact on the local economy, including the island’s construction industry that has been suffering for almost three years.
The petitioners were composed of Al-jon Construction Development, Inc., Mikhaela Construction & Supply, ALXM Construction and Development Corp., NQA Construction & Supply, ATC Builders, Guillen Construction & Development Corp. & Supply, Stavri Construction & Supplies, A.V. Laynes Trading & Construction, Tri-John Trading and Construction, Ecobuilders Construction, FDS Construction & Supply, Megaforth Construction, and JR Contractor.