Republic of the Philippines COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS Manila

IN THE MA]TER OF MEMORANDUM OF

EXECUTIVE

THE THE DIRECTOR

REQUESTING MODIFICATION Oi. RESOLUTION NO, 8482

RELATIVE TO THE PUBLIC BIDDING FOR VRR BINDERS

MELO, Jose A, R., SAR.MIENTO, Rene V,, FERRER, Nicodemo T., MACARAMBON, Moslemen T., LEONIDA, Leonadro L., TAGLE, Lucenito N.,

Chairman \*X'. CommissioneN \ Commission\I Commissioq{

CommissioriUj CommissioAry

AND PLASTIC FILLERS ----------------x x-.-----!---Promulgated:

RESOLUTION

No. 8490;

,rf

Wl-{EREAS, the Commission, on the basis of the Joint Memorandum of Atty. Melchor G, Magdarna and Mr. Ramon P. Aquino, Office of Chairman Jose A.R. Melo,

through R.esolution No. 8482, promulgated on July 2,2008, resolved to: (a) reject or
declare as failure the public bidding for VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers for being in "open defiance" of Minute Resolution Nos. 08-0364 and 08-0375 which ordered that

the public bidding for said items be held in abeyance; (b) approve the re-bidding for
VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers; and (c) advise the bidders concerned

to claim

the refund of their bid securities,

WHEREAS, Executive Director Jose M. Tolentino Jr., in his capacity as Chairman

of the Bids and Awards Committee that conducted the public bidding for VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers, submitted a Memorandum dated July 3, 2008,
requesting modification of said Resolution No. 8482, quoted,hereunder as follows:

The Commission En Banc, through Resolution No, B4B2 dated July 2, 2008 (Annex "A'), rejected or declared as failure the May 12, 2OOB public bidding for VRR holders/binders and plastic fillers based on the findings of Atty. Melchor G. Magdamo and Mr. Ramon P, Aquino that said public bidding was "premature" for having been conducted in "open defiance" of En Banc Minute Resolution Nos. 0B0364 and 08-0375, which ordered that the conduct of public bidding for said items be held in abeyance until after the Finance Services Department shall have sr,rbmitted its financial status repoft. Said Resolution, on the basis of the rejection or declaration of failure of bidding, further approved the re-bidding of

,l(

VRR binders and fillers and the withdrawal pafticipating

bidders.

of the bid security posted by the

*

The undersigned, in his capacity as then Chairman of: the Bids and Awards committee (BAC) that conducted the allegedly "premature,, public bidding, respectfully submits that there was no "open defiance" of the cited Minute Resoiutions because the order to hold in abeyance the public bidding for VRR 'rinders and fillers had already been set aside under Minute Resolution No. 0B0391 dated April 1, 2008 (AnneX "B'), which resolution likewise authorized the BAC to proceed with the public bidding for said items. Thus:
"The Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to approve the request of Atty. Judy L. Lorenzo, Attorney vI, Election and Barangay Affairs Departmen| for the immediate purchase of vRR Binders and Fillers in the following quantities:
VRR

Binders

Plastic Fillers

- 42,000 sets; and - 8,400,000 sets

and to be delivered thereaftert to the Offices of the Election Officers

whtch have not yet received their supply thereof,

For this purpose, the Bids and Awards committee is hereby authorized to proceed with the biddino for said VRR binders and fiIers .su'bject to availability of funds for the purpose as certified to by the Finance Seruices Department. Accordrngly, the suspensioh of biddinq of VRR binders -q nursuant to Minute Resolution No. 08-0364 is hereb.v Sel i5ide. "(Underscoring suppl ied)
Lll lhat Messrs.'Magdamo and Aquino had to do was to seek clarification from
the BAC on why the May 12, 2008 public bidding was conducted, and they would have been given a copy of Minute Resolution No. 08-0391. Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino could have also opted to obtain the Minute Resolution from the commission secretary. For reasons only known to them, Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino advanced their "open defiance" theory based on incomprete facts.
Since "open defiance" - which is the ground for the rejection or declaration of failure of bidding - never existed, it necessarily follows that the ensuing orders, namely, the approval of the re-bidding and the withdrawal of bid security no Ionger have any leg to stand on,

Generally, the undersigned refrains from responding to matters that do not relate to the main issue at hand. In the case at bar, however, he is constrained to reply to the findings of Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino, since their Joint Memorandum is replete with reckless accusations and unfounded statements resulting in erroneous conclusions that tend to mislead the reader. please conside.:

The Joint Memorandum alleged in its opening paragraph that what is being referred "for consideration by the Commission En Banc is a recommendation for rebidding of the procurement request for VRR holders/binders and plastic frllers" immediately followed by the statement that l'(t)he proposal involves a request fcr 335,549 holdery'binder and 53,359,800 plastic fillers'l These statements are misieading because a reader who has not been apprised of thb complete facts may erroneously conclude that the recommendation for re:bidding involves 335,549 holders/binders and 53,359,800 plastic fillers. This is not the case because the fact of the matter is that the recommendation for rebidding actirally refers tc; only 42,000 vRR holders/binders and 8,400,000 plastic fillers.

Assuming that the proposal being referred to by Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino petains to the entire project and not to their recommendation, such qualification should have been made at the onset to clearly identify the extent of their recommendation, thereby avoiding any misinterpretation by an uninformed
r

ratAar !quLt

Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino continued by stating that 'bn jB october 2006, a IUorking Committee undertook to conduct cost finding studies in Binondo and SM Manila'i and that "(r)egrettably, the cost per item remained unclear for morg than a year until after 14 February 2008 when the Finance Seruices Departmdftt (FSD) issued a Certifrcation that 99.582 mil/ion pesos is available for thie purchase VRR binders and plasttc fi/lers, chargeable against the 2007 Barangay Election Funds'i The statement that the cost per item remained unclear for more than a year is unfounded because the public bidding for 42,000 VRR binders and 8,400,000 plastic flllers is the third public bidding for said items; the first being on February 27,2007, andthe second, on october 18, 2007, both approved under Minute Resolution Nos. 07,0441 dated March 6, z0a7 (Annex "c'), and 07-r7t9 dated october 23, 2007 (Annex "D), respectively. Minute Resolutions are readily available. All that Messrs, Magdamo and Aquino had to do was to obtain pertinent records from the Commission Secretary to enable them to appreciate the fact that the unit cost was already clear for almost a year before: the FSD issued its February 14, 2008 certification. This, however, Messrs.tMagdamo and Aquino failed to do.

of

The Joint Memorandum states that "(o)n Li June 2008, the commission En Banq upon recommendation of the BAC ratified the award for the supply and delivery of thumb and fingerprint takers but held in abeyance that for vRR holders/binder and plastic fillers'i This statement is equivocal and tending to mislead the reader. while some may interpret the commission En Bancs a;"3resaid action as the result of the BAC'S recommendations, the use of the word "but" behr/een "takers" and "held" could also be construed as the commission Fn BanCs approval of the BAC's recommendation on the fingerprint takers only, but not on the VRR holders/binders, which is the main subject of Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino's Joint Memorandum. Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino may either be simply careless in preparing their Joint Memorandum or they may have intentionally refrained from citing Minute Resolution No. 08-0656 dated June 11, 2008 (Annex "E') to prevent a reader from discovering'that it was the BAC that recommended "to ho/d in abeyance the awarding of the contract for the supply and delivery of inside plastic fil/ers and outer document holder/binder for book of voters untrl post-qualification proceedings on a// the bidders thereto shall have been completed'i

that "the Commission can save approximarely 50 million pesos by simply buying from the open market'(, that "a similar item in National Book store costs only 3.50 pesos per piece", that a " BAC Secretariat member is of the opinion that the said item cannot cost more than two pesos per piece", that "the lowest estimate was one peso per piece,i and that '?he Commission is not bound by any price precedent because prices are constantly changing". clearly, the conclusion that savings of approximately 50 million pesos could be generated is on the premise that the fillers that the Commission will be purchasing are available in the open marliet. The truth of the matter, however, is that the available fillers in the open market do not meet the Commission's requirements. While the available fillers in the open market may be similar in materlal, they are not similar in size and complexity. As such,, there is still a need to customize the equipment and materials that would be used to produce the fillers in accordance with the Commission's specifications. while it is true that prices do change, and the Commission is not bound by any pirce prcdent, price estimates should be based on the actual customized
Messrs, Magdamo and Aquino argue

-t ! 4 Esro.84! r:equirements.

specifications that would meet the Commission's needs,. and not on "off-the , shelf" products that do not comply with the Commission's

As established earlier, the May 12, 2008 public bidding was the third public bidding conducted for VRR binders and plastic fillers, Since the Commission Fn Banc already approved the results of two previous public bidding for VRR binders and fillers, it may be concluded in no uncertain terms that the price estimates used as basis for such public bidding have been twice acknowledged as correct by the Commission En Banc. Despite said acknowledgement of correctness by the Commission Fn Banc, all that Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino could raise as a ground to question the price estimate is the existence of a lower-priced filler that unfortunately do not meet the Commission's specifications.

Baseless recommendations that contain reckless accusations should be shunned since they do the most damage, especially so where records that could rebut such accusations are readily available. As a result of such reckless accusations

andunfoundedrecommendations,thereputationofthemembersoftheBAC including the members of the Working Committee tasked to study the VR*fi binder and filler project, have been baselessly and urinecessarily tainted.
The undersigned is no longer a member of the current BAC, and therefore not in a position to recommend the appropriate action to be taken on'the public bidding for VRR binders and fillers. The undersigned, however, respectfully requests that Resolution No. B4B2 dated July 2,2008 be modified to the effect that:

1. The May \2,2008 public biOding.for VRR binders and fillers was
conducted not in open defiance of Minute Resolution Nos. 08-0364 and 08-0375, but in compliance with Minute Resolution No. 08-0391; and

2.

The price estimate used for the May 12,2008 public bidding is correct.

WHEREAS, the order

to hold in abeyance the public bidding for

VRR binders

and flllers had been set aside under Minute Resolution No. 08-0391 dated April 1, 2008,

and the price estimate used as basis for the May 12, 2008 public bidding had been twice affirmed by the Commission under Resolution Nos. 07-044L and 07-1719 dated
March 6, 2007 and Octob er 23, 2007, respectively;

WHEREAS, the reservation clause of the Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to
Bid for said VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers grants the Commission "the right to

reject any or all bids, waive any formal defect contained therein, and accept the lowest
complying responsive bid that is most advantageous to the Commission";

WHEREAS, there is a need to fix the agency estimate in case the Commission
exercises its right to reject any and all bids submitted during a public bidding;

F.IOW

T:;EREFORE, finding the request of Executive Director Jose M. Tolentino,

Jr. to be in order, the Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to modify

uU'

,/

P 5 Reto,8490
Resolution No. B4B2 dated July 2:,2008 to the effect that (a) the May

I2, 2008 public

bidding for VRR binders and fillers was conducted not in open defiance of Minute Resolution Nos. 08-0364 and 0B-C375, but in compliance with Minute Resolution No.
08-0391; ancj (b) the price estimate used for the May 12, 2008 public bidding is correct.

to reiterate the orders under Resolution No. B4B2 (a) approving the re-bidding of the procurement request for VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers; and (b) advising the bidders concerned to withdraw the bid securities
RESOLVED FURTHER,
posted during the Public bidding'

RESOLVED FINALLY,

to constitute a Working Committee

composed

of

the

representatives of the Chairman and Commissioners, to fix the agency estimate for the VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers
items.

to be used as basis for the re-bidding of said

Let the Bids and Awards Committee implement this Resolutiorf

;

SO

ORDERED.

/"*<+',./h
RENE V.

SARMIENT/

NICODEMO
Commissioner

Commissioner

NN T. MACARAMBON

LEONARDO L. LEONIDA
Commissioner

lucer'rtlbMacur

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