ILIGAN City ― The city is terminating the services of the contractor of the Palao market, BM Marketing.
This was the gist of the statement of a lawyer, Robert Padilla, city legal officer and head of the Contract Termination and Review Committee, to reporters, yesterday in a press conference made for the said purpose at the Sangguniang Panlungsod session hall on the afternoon of said day. The next step, the lawyer said, was to review the documents relative to the bidding process. Unfortunately, the documents on them were "lost" Padilla said.
To recall, the project began during the term of the city mayor Celso Regencia and the groundbreaking was made on February 24 of 2020 it was to be completed in a period of 18 months. It was touted by said administration that the P480 million cost was made "without loans incurred." It was supposed to be completed by December 31, 2021. But after said date, the contractor had asked for several extensions, seven in all said the lawyer but still the project remained uncompleted.
It was learned too that leading members of the Bids and Awards Committee then, particularly lawyers Dexter Rey Sumaoy and Doris Barsomo had resigned before the elections of last year with both of them "cleared" of their liabilities by the then administration,
Padilla then said that they will see if they will be able to get documents from the accounting department of the city or the Commission on Audit.
Earlier, in the flag-raising ceremony this week, Mayor Frederic Siao said that "This is a hard decision but it has got to be made'' even as he assured people that this has to be finished though at the earliest possible time. Padilla said that the city is looking into the possibility of having the second or third lowest responsible bidder though, at the present time, they still had to see those "lost" documents.
Asked about whether the project was "subcontracted" Padilla answered in the negative. And aside from the delays in said construction, there were "defects" like specifications not being followed, like the brand in the elevator "not the same as specified'' or the railings, not being the same as specified too. Furthermore, the floorings, when subjected to the water test, the water that was poured over the second floor leaked onto the floor below. What's more, it was learned too that the grocery area was placed on the second floor instead of the first floor and the stalls for the grocery items were darned ''too small."
The "Notice of Termination" it was learned was given to the contractor last April 15. The reply of said contractor with Edgar Tiu as its owner, was not yet received.
To recall too, residents from Cebu gave some reactions on said contractor BM Marketing. In a 2020 letter to this paper, Rico Chua from Cebu told this paper in a letter complete with hard copy attachments: "As concerned citizens residing in Cebu, it is with uneasiness to have learned that B.M. Marketing has reached your shores as the winning contractor for the project INFR-19-047: Design and Construction of the New Pala-p Public Market Building, Barangay Pala-o, Iligan City…
"There is nothing wrong with a contractor not residing within/near the city to construct an important project as long as their track records are not fabricated or else risk the lives of the workers and the tenants of Iligan City."
The Sangguniang Panlungsod too had investigations on the matter earlier this year and asked Edgar Tiu to come over to the city for said matter but refused on the ground that he was ''unvaccinated."
