NORTHERN Samar Rep. Paul Daza yesterday questioned the transfer of a “significant portion” of the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) P12 billion budget for its Free Wi-Fi for All Program to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) through memoranda of agreement (MOA).
In a privilege speech, Daza said he was recently informed that about P3 billion to P4 billion of the budget allocation was “distributed” to the MMDA and several local government units (LGUs).
“I believe that such inter-agency transfers, without clear guidance from Congress — which is mandated to enact the General Appropriations Act — is highly suspicious, if not illegal,” he said. “Let’s just hope that our assumption of good faith holds true, otherwise, MMDA may just stand for ‘Money Making from DICT Allocations,’” he added.
Daza also questioned the way the MMDA spent the funds, saying the agency bid out a P1.1 billion project for the NCR Fiber Optic Backbone Development and is now set to award the contract to the winning company, which was the lone bidder.
“Do you know how many qualified bidders participated in this high-value project? One. Just one. Of course, this lone bidder won,” he said, quoting a “very reliable source” that the winning bidder was a joint venture between A-WIN and NET PACIFIC, Inc.
“What was the criteria and scoring to determine who was qualified and unqualified for this bidding? Were there even other bidders who were screened?” Daza asked.
He likewise mentioned that A-WIN may be the same company that caused a major accident on EDSA in Mandaluyong City during a drilling activity last April. “If this is the same group, shouldn’t the fact that they accidentally burst a pipe along a major thoroughfare raise some red flags?” the lawmaker asked.
Daza also cited other “seemingly overpriced” projects and procurements such as a Landscape Treatment Project for Pocket Parks along EDSA that required only P9.9 million but ended up with a final budget of P33.2 million; two laptops that cost P181,000; and a tablet worth P121,000.
“If this procurement is deemed illegal, then MMDA needs to do the right thing and revert the funds to DICT or the national treasury,” Daza said.
