6:57 pm | Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014
MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III said on Wednesday he was “inclined” to solve the issue hobbling the P35.4-billion Cavite Laguna Expressway (Calax) public private partnership deal through a potentially controversial re-bidding exercise in an effort to find a middle ground between two powerful business groups.
The decision came after disqualified bidder San Miguel Corp. sought Malacañang’s intervention last June, halting the then-expected awarding to the “highest complying bidder,” which was a consortium between Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc.
SMC was disqualified by the bids and awards committee of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for a four-day deficiency in its bid bond, leaving just three other participants when financial offers were opened last June 13.
President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The bids were eventually topped by the Ayala-Aboitiz group’s Team Orion, which offered P11.659 billion. The issue became complicated because SMC’s offer, while not considered, turned out to be much higher at P20.1 billion.
Aquino told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Wednesday that he was leaning toward a second auction, saying the discrepancy between the bids of SMC and Ayala-Aboitiz, or P8.4 billion, had to be explained to the public.
“I am inclined to think that a re-bid will be the proper course of action on this particular issue,” Aquino said.
“At the end of the day, we have to protect the people’s interests,” Aquino said.
Team Orion did not take the development sitting down, as it issued a statement Wednesday afternoon that it had no plans to participate in any re-bidding exercise.
“We are very concerned with the Office of the President’s current inclination to pursue a re-bid of the Calax Project because of the severe negative impact this decision would have on investor confidence in the PPP Program and on the integrity of the entire bidding process,” Team Orion said in a statement.
“We will not participate if government decides to re-bid the project because there is no legal basis for this course of action given the fact that the original DPWH-led process was conducted above board, transparently and within the framework of the BOT [build operate transfer] law,” it added.
The two other bidders for Calax were a unit of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Malaysia’s MTD Group, which offered P11.33 billion and P922 million, respectively.
Aquino took note of a proposal for government to build Calax by itself, given delays brought about by the controversial issue but Aquino thumbed this suggestion down.
“The proposal for government to actually undertake the project defeats the whole purpose of the PPP project,” he said, noting that the aim of the program has been to free up government resources for other infrastructure projects.
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