Barug dads slam BOPK for renting trucks

CEBU, Philippines — Some Barug Team Rama Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan councilors slammed the present administration over the scheme of renting heavy equipment for garbage collection.

Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover Jr., vocal critic of Mayor Tomas Osmeña, alleged that there are ‘irregularities’ in the bidding process for the rental of heavy equipment.

This was after he noticed that trucks of Pasajero Motors Corporation, the previous supplier of the city government, look the same with the equipment of Geo Transport and Construction Inc., the current service provider.

“Klaro man kaayo nga murag gipapahuway lang ang Pamocor, gipapahuway ang ngalan kay tungod lagi napili man, na-ABC man si Franklyn,” he said.

To recall, Pamocor, owned by Association of Barangay Council-Cebu City President and Kasambagan Barangay Captain Franklyn Ong has a rental contract amounting to P65 million with the city government from January to June this year.

In an interview last Friday, Alcover has showed photo of Geo Transport truck which he believed are the same equipment of Pamocor.

“Ang ngalan raman giilisan, ang equipment gigamit Pamocor raman gihapon,” he said.

In a separate interview, Ong said Geo Transport has bought his more than 20 trucks since July.

"Vehicles were sold and bought by Geo Transport last July pa," he said.

Councilor Joel Garganera concurred with Alcover’s observation saying the only difference is that Geo Transport put its name on the trucks.

“Tan-awa ang atong truck kanang naglibot-libot ron sa Pamocor, gibutangan lang og Geo Transport pero Pamocor gihapon,” he said.

With this, Alcover is asking the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to provide them a copy of a contract of Geo Transport to erase the doubts.

“Naa gyud na (irregularities). We will ask BAC to explain it to us. Asa gi-award and those people responsible sa pag-sign sa contract,” he said.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, a lawyer by profession, said they will look into the bidding process for possible legal action.

In October 2017, the city government started to rent trucks in order to improve the garbage collection.

The rented trucks will be running 24 hours per day which will collect trash from the barangays.

However, BAC Head Ronaldo Malacora said he will give his comments today since he needs to double check some documents.

Meanwhile, BAC declared Geo Transport as the winning bidder for the rental contract amounting to P12 million which is intended for this month.

Upon thorough review of the bidding documents, the technical working group (TWG) found out that Geo Transport has complied with all the necessary documents.

With this, the mayor is expected to sign the purchase order soon so that Geo Transport can officially start.  (FREEMAN)