MANILA, Philippines — Eleven of the 15 contracts awarded by the Davao City government to GenCorp Industries Inc. did not undergo public bidding a Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) official told the Senate Impeachment Court on Monday.
PhilGEPS Division Chief Rendell Sopeña said these projects were processed through “negotiated, small-value procurement.”
He made the disclosure during questioning by Senator-judge Risa Hontiveros.
Sopeña gave a rough estimate of between P5 million and P11 million for the 11 contracts that were processed without public bidding.
Reading from a summary of the documents, Sopeña confirmed that GenCorp had a total of 49 government contracts: 15 with the Davao City government, 33 with PhilHealth Region 11, and one with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Region 11.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Roberto Batungbacal established that Sopeña was not personally involved in the bidding or procurement processes for any of the 49 contracts awarded to GenCorp.
Sopeña said his knowledge was limited to the documents uploaded to the PhilGEPS system by the procuring entities.
He also clarified that determining compliance with procurement rules or identifying irregularities was not part of his office’s mandate.
Batungbacal asked Sopeña to confirm that his testimony was limited to identifying and authenticating the documents ordered produced by the impeachment court.
House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro objected, saying it was misleading to characterize the documents as having been requested by the prosecution.
“It was not the prosecution that issued the subpoena. It was the honorable impeachment court that ordered the production of the documents,” Luistro said.
Batungbacal asked Sopeña whether he could say that any of the 49 contracts had been awarded irregularly.
Luistro objected, saying the question was beyond the witness’ competence.
Senate Presiding Officer Francis Escudero allowed the question, saying he also wanted to determine whether Sopeña’s office could identify any lack of compliance.
Sopeña reiterated that monitoring compliance was not part of PhilGEPS’ mandate.
“We are merely the repository of procurement data,” he said.
