Bangon Marawi? Inertia, inexperience, unruly rules

By Malou Mangahas
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism .

Third of four parts

MONEY, however, is not the only problem the BMSC has to deal with when it comes to Marawi’s MAA projects..

Indeed, inertia hounds BMSC’s work in part because of the lack of experience in the procurement of general construction and civil-works projects by a majority of the seven BMSC members who include loyal, long-term Duterte associates.

Task Force chair del Rosario (who is also Housing Secretary), for example, is a retired general who knew Duterte from 1983 when he was an Army lieutenant and later Task Force Davao commander in 2000. Del Rosario had also served as secretariat head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

National Housing Authority (NHA) Administrator Marcelino P. Escalada Jr. — who had served with Duterte since 1995 as humanesource officer, special-projects head, planning and development officer, and city administrator of Davao City – meanwhile will sign on to the contract with the MAA contractor.

By mandate, NHA and the housing agencies under del Rosario have expertise largely in “housing finance, housing regulation, housing production, and institutional development.” See related story here: “A majority of Duterte allies will pick Marawi’s ground-zero contractor” [http://pcij.org/stories/a-majority-of-duterte-allies-will-pick-marawis-ground-zero-contractor/]

Unruly rules

The problems faced by the Task Force and the selection committee are far more complicated, and have included rules that have had to be revised and now reviewed for possible splitting of the 22 components of the scope of work for the MAA contractor.

Duterte’s Executive Order No. 49 dated Feb. 5, 2018 had exempted the Marawi conflict zone project from Neda’s Guidelines on JVAs supposedly “to expedite the implementation of recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation projects in the most affected areas of Marawi City.”

Nearly a fourth or 24 of Marawi’s 96 barangays make up “ground zero” or the “most affected area” — bombed to the ground, rendered uninhabitable — even as the rest of the villages sustained widespread damage to private, commercial, and public structures and facilities.

But instead of rushing negotiations on the JVA for the ground-zero projects, the exemption from Neda’s rules has put Task Force Bangon Marawi in a state of legal limbo. It has had to revise, improvise, and update its own rules on eligibility and documentary requirements for project proponents, and push back deadlines for their submission of documents. See related story here: “A patchwork of sketchy plans, loose rules, uncertain funding” [http://pcij.org/stories/a-patchwork-of-sketchy-plans-looseules-uncertain-funding/]

Consortium 1 out 

In the case of the Bagong Marawi Consortium or BMC, the Task Force undertook eligibility check toward May and June 2018 only, or months after del Rosario had repeatedly announced since December 2017 that it was likely to be granted “original proponent status” for the MAA deal. BMC had quoted a P16-billion tab on its proposal.

In the case of a newer proponent, another consortium, the eligibility check commenced ahead of the review of its JVA proposal.

The BMSC spent five months, from December 2017 to June 25, 2018, in negotiations with BMC, led by a China state-owned enterprise (SOE), which was later disqualified for reported failure to meet technical and financial requirements.

And then for over two months now since July 2, BMSC has been conducting negotiations with a second consortium led by another China SOE; the talks will end on Aug. 24, barring further delays that the proposed splitting of the 22-component scope of work could trigger..

The Task Force’s row with the first proponent, BMC, is far from over though. BMC, led by China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd and its Philippine entity partner, Future Home Co. Ltd. (a company based out of Tacloban City that sells prefabricated, lightweight concrete houses, and other construction materials) has filed with the Task Force a motion for reconsideration of its disqualification.  (to be concluded)