A recent memorandum from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) mandating the adoption of DPWH prices of key construction materials are worrying prospective bidders for the P100-million first phase of the Eastern Bicol Medical Center’s three-story building construction project.
The concerns were raised during the pre-bid conference held by the Bidding & Awards Committee (BAC) chaired by Senen Razal and attended by representatives of some contractors.
According to the Invitation to Bid posted on the PhilGEPS website, the project involves the construction of a three-story hospital building at the EBMC in San Isidro Village, Virac with an approved budget of P99,999,954.38 and contract duration of 350 calendar days.
The post did not provide complete details of the project except for certain items of work like Structural Concrete Class A, Reinforcing Steel Grade 40, LV Cables, Panel Boards, Vinyl Floor Tiles, and Airconditioning Split Type.
Thirteen (13) entities expressed interest in joining the Jan. 26, 2026 public bidding: 515 Life Construction Corporation, R.R. Encabo Constructors Inc., Autokid Mobility Solutions Philippines Inc., Nida Builder’s & Supplies, Filmetrics Corporation, J-Marbela Construction and Supply, PERRC, Inc., Al-Jon Construction Development Inc., ALXM Construction & Development Corp., HRB Construction, Firmabuilt Construction, LDV Construction, and 2 Brothers Construction Enterprises.
An unverified report, however, claimed that the project had been offered by a local official to a Catanduanes contractor with existing contracts with the DPWH.
Just the same, the winner of the bidding on Monday will have to consider the possibility of incurring huge losses if the provincial government fails to secure an exemption from coverage of the DILG memorandum.
Last Dec. 16, 2025, DILG Undersecretary for Local Government Marlo L. Iringan issued a directive to all regional directors on the adoption of Presidential Directive (PD) No. PBBM-2025-1763 mandating the alignment of government project costs with prevailing market prices.
It may be recalled that in the wake of the flood control projects controversy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that the DPWH has begun implementing a 50% reduction in the cost of key construction materials to generate capital outlay savings and curb corruption.
On Oct. 30, 2025, then Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin issued a letter to all Secretaries and concerned departments directing the immediate adoption of the presidential directive.
Usec. Iringan told all regional directors to inform all LGUs under their jurisdiction regarding the directive and to ensure the adoption of the same pricing system for their respective infrastructure projects such as roads, buildings, water system projects and other similar undertakings.
Subsequently, DILG Bicol Regional Director issued a similarly worded memo to all DILG provincial directors and the City Local Government Operations Officer of Naga City on Dec. 19, 2025 and asked that a status report on the implementation be submitted within 30 days from receipt.
At the time, the Program of Work and Detailed Estimates for the EBMC Phase I hospital building construction was presumably completed when the Invitation to Bid was published on the PhilGEPS website by the PLGU-BAC chaired by Senen Razal.
According to the Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD), the unit costs for several key construction materials indicated for use by the Catanduanes DEO are considerably lower than the prevailing prices for the same materials as monitored by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office in the capital town of Virac.
The price of one bag of Portland cement is still reasonable at the local level, with the DTI listing several brands with retail prices ranging from P230 to P250 per bag, more or less comparable with the DPWH CMPD’s P243.05 cost.
The price of reinforcing steel bars, however, are about 2 percent higher than the DPWH cost while the marine and ordinary plywood are more expensive at local hardware stores by as much as 12 to 18 percent.
Construction aggregates, which are covered by DTI Catanduanes’ monthly monitoring, are double or triple the cost set by DPWH.
While the CMPD sets the unit cost of fine aggregate sand in Catanduanes at P400 per cubic meter, a local supplier’s price for “crushed sand” is P1,200 per cubic meter.
Gravel, on the other hand, is available at P800 per cubic meter, or double the CMPD cost of P400 per cubic meter.
The discrepancy between the DPWH-CMPD unit costs supposed to be adopted by LGUs for their infrastructure projects and the local prices reportedly prompted a participant in the EBMC construction project pre-bid conference to comment that the contract amount could be overpriced by as much as P30 million.
Under the proposed project that would cost a total of P300 million, the first two phases would involve construction of the right and left wings to be followed by the central part once the existing 50-year old hospital building is demolished.