A legislative body member has raised concerns regarding the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) decision to transfer funding for the government’s national broadband project from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to the Department of Finance.
Rep. Paul Daza, who represents Northern Samar’s 1st District, also questioned how the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) managed to secure only one qualified bidder for the “Free WiFi for All” initiative.
Daza raised this inquiry while pointing out that a bidding process was reportedly successful for a contract worth ₱1.1 billion, the NCR Fiber Optic Backbone Development.
However, according to the rules of the auction, only one bidder could qualify for the bidding, making that particular firm the winner of the auction. According to the congressman, this is puzzling because many bidders may have been eligible for the high-stakes project.
During a privileged speech on Tuesday, Daza posed the question about a joint venture deal that had been reached between A-Win and Net Pacific Inc. “It’s a very huge project and yet only one bidder was able to qualify?”
He added that no further specifics were published either on the MMDA’s website or in the Nov. 8 bidding advertisement, which identified the project as a high-value contract.
Daza characterized the project that the MMDA is working on with the DICT as “dubious.”
“While we can assume that this downloading of funds was executed on good intention, we in Congress highlight the sacred duty of sound fiscal management,” he added.
In addition, Daza stated that “Inter-agency transfer of funding can only be done with the consent of Congress.”
He observed that the DICT went forward with the financial transfer even though its legal section had expressed reservations about the move.
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