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Republic of the PhilippinesCOMMISSION ON ELECTIONSManila

IN THE MA]TER OF THEMEMORANDUM OF THEEXECUTIVE DIRECTORREQUESTING MODIFICATIONOi. RESOLUTION NO, 8482RELATIVE TO THE PUBLICBIDDING FOR VRR BINDERSAND PLASTIC FILLERSx-.-----!---- ----------------x

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

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 ordeclare as failure the public bidding for VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers for beingin "open defiance" of Minute Resolution Nos. 08-0364 and 08-0375 which ordered thatthe public bidding for said items be held in abeyance; (b) approve the re-bidding forVRR binders/holders and plastic fillers; and (c) advise the bidders concerned to claimthe refund of their bid securities,

WHEREAS, Executive Director Jose M. Tolentino Jr., in his capacity as Chairmanof the Bids and Awards Committee that conducted the public bidding for VRRbinders/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 forVRR 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" forhaving been conducted in "open defiance" of En Banc Minute Resolution Nos. 0B-0364 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 havesr,rbmitted its financial status repoft. Said Resolution, on the basis of therejection or declaration of failure of bidding, further approved the re-bidding of,l(

\Chairman \*X'.CommissioneN \Commission\ICommissioq{CommissioriUjCommissioAry

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VRR binders and fillers and the withdrawal of the bid security posted by thepafticipating bidders. *The undersigned, in his capacity as then Chairman of: the Bids and Awardscommittee (BAC) that conducted the allegedly "premature,, public bidding,respectfully submits that there was no "open defiance" of the cited MinuteResoiutions because the order to hold in abeyance the public bidding for VRR'rinders and fillers had already been set aside under Minute Resolution No. 0B-0391 dated April 1, 2008 (AnneX "B'), which resolution likewise authorized theBAC to proceed with the public bidding for said items. Thus:"The Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to approvethe request of Atty. Judy L. Lorenzo, Attorney vI, Election and BarangayAffairs Departmen| for the immediate purchase of vRR Binders andFillers in the following quantities:

VRR Binders - 42,000 sets; andPlastic Fillers - 8,400,000 setsand to be delivered thereaftert to the Offices of the Election Officerswhtch have not yet received their supply thereof,For this purpose, the Bids and Awards committee is herebyauthorized to proceed with the biddino for said VRR binders and fiIers.su'bject to availability of funds for the purpose as certified to by theFinance Seruices Department. Accordrngly, the suspensioh of biddinq ofVRR binders -q nursuant to Minute Resolution No. 08-0364 is hereb.vSel i5ide. "(Underscoring suppl ied)

Lll lhat Messrs.'Magdamo and Aquino had to do was to seek clarification fromthe BAC on why the May 12, 2008 public bidding was conducted, and they wouldhave been given a copy of Minute Resolution No. 08-0391. Messrs. Magdamoand Aquino could have also opted to obtain the Minute Resolution from thecommission secretary. For reasons only known to them, Messrs. Magdamo andAquino advanced their "open defiance" theory based on incomprete facts.Since "open defiance" - which is the ground for the rejection or declaration offailure of bidding - never existed, it necessarily follows that the ensuing orders,namely, the approval of the re-bidding and the withdrawal of bid security noIonger have any leg to stand on,Generally, the undersigned refrains from responding to matters that do not relateto the main issue at hand. In the case at bar, however, he is constrained toreply to the findings of Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino, since their JointMemorandum is replete with reckless accusations and unfounded statementsresulting in erroneous conclusions that tend to mislead the reader. pleaseconside.:The Joint Memorandum alleged in its opening paragraph that what is beingreferred "for consideration by the Commission En Banc is a recommendation forrebidding of the procurement request for VRR holders/binders and plastic frllers"immediately followed by the statement that l'(t)he proposal involves a requestfcr 335,549 holdery'binder and 53,359,800 plastic fillers'l These statements aremisieading because a reader who has not been apprised of thb complete factsmay erroneously conclude that the recommendation for re:bidding involves335,549 holders/binders and 53,359,800 plastic fillers. This is not the casebecause the fact of the matter is that the recommendation for rebidding actirallyrefers tc; only 42,000 vRR holders/binders and 8,400,000 plastic fillers.4

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Assuming that the proposal being referred to by Messrs. Magdamo and Aquinopetains to the entire project and not to their recommendation, such qualificationshould have been made at the onset to clearly identify the extent of theirrecommendation, thereby avoiding any misinterpretation by an uninformedratAarr !quLtMessrs. Magdamo and Aquino continued by stating that 'bn jB october 2006, aIUorking Committee undertook to conduct cost finding studies in Binondo and SMManila'i and that "(r)egrettably, the cost per item remained unclear for morgthan 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 thiepurchase of VRR binders and plasttc fi/lers, chargeable against the 2007Barangay Election Funds'i The statement that the cost per item remainedunclear for more than a year is unfounded because the public bidding for 42,000VRR 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, bothapproved under Minute Resolution Nos. 07,0441 dated March 6, z0a7 (Annex"c'), and 07-r7t9 dated october 23, 2007 (Annex "D), respectively. MinuteResolutions are readily available. All that Messrs, Magdamo and Aquino had todo was to obtain pertinent records from the Commission Secretary to enablethem to appreciate the fact that the unit cost was already clear for almost a yearbefore: the FSD issued its February 14, 2008 certification. This, however,Messrs.tMagdamo and Aquino failed to do.

The Joint Memorandum states that "(o)n Li June 2008, the commission EnBanq upon recommendation of the BAC ratified the award for the supply anddelivery of thumb and fingerprint takers but held in abeyance that for vRRholders/binder and plastic fillers'i This statement is equivocal and tending tomislead the reader. while some may interpret the commission En Bancsa;"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 FnBanCs approval of the BAC's recommendation on the fingerprint takers only, butnot on the VRR holders/binders, which is the main subject of Messrs. Magdamoand Aquino's Joint Memorandum. Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino may either besimply careless in preparing their Joint Memorandum or they may haveintentionally 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 thatrecommended "to ho/d in abeyance the awarding of the contract for the supplyand delivery of inside plastic fil/ers and outer document holder/binder for book ofvoters untrl post-qualification proceedings on a// the bidders thereto shall havebeen completed'iMessrs, Magdamo and Aquino argue that "the Commission can saveapproximarely 50 million pesos by simply buying from the open market'(, that "asimilar item in National Book store costs only 3.50 pesos per piece", that a " BACSecretariat member is of the opinion that the said item cannot cost more thantwo pesos per piece", that "the lowest estimate was one peso per piece,i andthat '?he Commission is not bound by any price precedent because prices areconstantly changing". clearly, the conclusion that savings of approximately 50million pesos could be generated is on the premise that the fillers that theCommission will be purchasing are available in the open marliet. The truth ofthe matter, however, is that the available fillers in the open market do not meetthe Commission's requirements. While the available fillers in the open marketmay 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 beused 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 anypirce prcdent, price estimates should be based on the actual customized

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. - ! 4 Esro.84!specifications that would meet the Commission's needs,. and not on "off-the ,shelf" products that do not comply with the Commission's r:equirements. ,As established earlier, the May 12, 2008 public bidding was the third publicbidding conducted for VRR binders and plastic fillers, Since the Commission FnBanc already approved the results of two previous public bidding for VRR bindersand fillers, it may be concluded in no uncertain terms that the price estimatesused as basis for such public bidding have been twice acknowledged as correctby the Commission En Banc. Despite said acknowledgement of correctness bythe Commission Fn Banc, all that Messrs. Magdamo and Aquino could raise as aground to question the price estimate is the existence of a lower-priced filler thatunfortunately do not meet the Commission's specifications. | ,Baseless recommendations that contain reckless accusations should be shunnedsince they do the most damage, especially so where records that could rebutsuch accusations are readily available. As a result of such reckless accusationsandunfoundedrecommendations,thereputationofthemembersoftheBACincluding the members of the Working Committee tasked to study the VR*fibinder and filler project, have been baselessly and urinecessarily tainted.The undersigned is no longer a member of the current BAC, and therefore not ina position to recommend the appropriate action to be taken on'the public biddingfor VRR binders and fillers. The undersigned, however, respectfully requests thatResolution No. B4B2 dated July 2,2008 be modified to the effect that:

1. The May \2,2008 public biOding.for VRR binders and fillers wasconducted not in open defiance of Minute Resolution Nos. 08-0364 and08-0375, but in compliance with Minute Resolution No. 08-0391; and2. 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 bindersand 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 beentwice affirmed by the Commission under Resolution Nos. 07-044L and 07-1719 datedMarch 6, 2007 and Octob er 23, 2007, respectively;

WHEREAS, the reservation clause of the Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and toBid for said VRR binders/holders and plastic fillers grants the Commission "the right toreject any or all bids, waive any formal defect contained therein, and accept the lowestcomplying responsive bid that is most advantageous to the Commission";

WHEREAS, there is a need to fix the agency estimate in case the Commissionexercises 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'

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P 5 Reto,8490Resolution No. B4B2 dated July 2:,2008 to the effect that (a) the May I2, 2008 publicbidding for VRR binders and fillers was conducted not in open defiance of MinuteResolution 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.

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

RESOLVED FINALLY, to constitute a Working Committee composed of therepresentatives of the Chairman and Commissioners, to fix the agency estimate for theVRR binders/holders and plastic fillers to be used as basis for the re-bidding of saiditems.

Let the Bids and Awards Committee implement this Resolutiorf;

SO ORDERED. .

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