By Chito A. Chavez
Charging that rampant anomalies exist at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) and other jail facilities under the Bureau of Corrections, a catering service firm asked President Duterte to intervene and put an end to the corrupt practices.
Mang Kiko Catering Services Inc. (MKCSI), the caterer at the NBP for the past 11 years, cried foul after it was accused of serving contaminated food to inmates that led to hospitalization of inmates in the facility.
NBP (Ali Vicoy/Manila Bulletin/Manila Bulletin)
Lorna Kapunan, legal counsel of MKCSI, said that the diarrhea outbreak inside the NBP was most likely caused by unsafe drinking water served to the inmates.
Alvin Navarro, president MKCSI, questioned the timing of the food poisoning news as he accused Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Benjamin De Los Santos of bias against the company.
Navarro accused De Los Santos of refusing to approve the P30 million payment for its services in one cycle with the amount ballooning to P76 million, placing the company on the verge of bankruptcy.
Aware that the water supply inside the NBP was contaminated, Navarro said that they hired a contractor to build a 240 feet well inside the kitchen for their use in their food preparation .Periodic tests conducted by the Department of Health revealed that the water used by the MKCSI was safe for human consumption.
Last May 27, there was a reported diarrhea outbreak at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), which resulted in the hospitalization of an undetermined number of inmates.
Without any basis, Kapunan said the officers of the BuCor and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre immediately blamed MKCSI for the incident.
“Blaming Mang Kiko for the diarrhea outbreak appears to be part of a vicious and concerted effort to destroy the good name and reputation of Mang Kiko, to ensure that it will be blacklisted as food caterer, and to bring in a favored caterer in BuCor in complete disregard of the provisions of RA 9184,’’ Kapunan said.
As far back as last year, Kapunan noted that there were public biddings held by BuCor for the catering services in the penal colonies of Leyte, Davao, Zamboanga and Palawan for 2017 with MKCSI winning those public biddings.
However, Kapunan insisted that De Los Santos refused to act on the notices of award and contracts due to MKCSI, without any legal or factual justification.
On a scheduled bidding on May 8, 2017 at the NBP, MKCSI was ready to join the bidding but without any clear basis, the BAC of BuCor cancelled the bidding on May 5, 2017 in clear violation of Section 22.5.2 of the IRR of RA 9184 (The Government Procurement Reform Act).
Kapunan said MKCSI complained about this cancellation, but the BAC insisted on its decision.
On May 11, 2017, Kapunan noted that MKCSI was notified on the same day that there was a blacklisting procedure against the catering company.
De Los Santos accused MKCSI of breaching its contract with BuCor in January 2017 since the company allegedly substituted a pork viand for a scheduled beef viand without presenting its food for prior inspection.
Kapunan noted that BuCor issued a certification on April 6, 2017 which confirmed that the catering service firm during the alleged period of the “breach” was found to be “VERY SATISFACTORY” and BuCor even proceeded to engage MKCSI’s catering services for the second quarter of 2017.
The complaint of MKCSI Mang Kiko about the blacklisting procedure against it was ignored by de los Santos.
“This blacklisting procedure was allegedly instituted because of a complaint filed against Mang Kiko. Mang Kiko on 16 May 2017 asked Director de los Santos for a copy of the complaint against Mang Kiko which was said to be the basis of the blacklisting procedure. Up to this time, Director de los Santos refused to give Mang Kiko a copy of the complaint,’’ Kapunan said.
Left with no other choice, MKCSI sent a letter to President Duterte dated May 15, 2017 informing him of the irregularities in BuCor and furnishing him all the documentary evidence of said irregularities.
Without resolving any past legal issues relating to the 08 May 2017 bidding as well as the blacklisting procedure, the BAC of BuCor called for another bidding on 18 May 2017.
In complete disregard of RA 9184, Kapunan said the BAC of BuCor showed partiality in favor of another bidder during the bidding held on May 18, 2017.
“At the onset, representatives of Mang Kiko were told that they cannot give any comments or observations about the bidding process nor the bidding documents of the other bidders. The BAC departed from the established protocol of opening and reviewing first the technical and eligibility documents in order to ascertain the bidders’ qualifications, before opening the financial documents. The BAC opened the financial documents without pre-qualifying the bidders. In the end, the BAC headed by Dr. Cynthia Andrada considered the bid of the bidder who failed to comply with the eligibility requirements,’’ Kapunan said
Kapunan said this said bidder failed to meet the requirement in Section 23.4.1.3 of the IRR of RA 9184 which stated that a bidder for services must have completed a single contract that is at least 50 percent of the approved budget contract (“single largest completed contract requirement” or “SLCC”).
Since MKCSI was the only qualified bidder that satisfied all the requirements, the catering service provider objected to the irregularities during the May 18, 2017 bidding.
Instead of considering MKCSI as the winning bidder during the May 18, 2017 bidding, Kapunan said De los Santos, on May 24, 2017, declared a failure of bidding relating to the May 18, 2017 bidding.