Name extortionist, urban planner urged
By Tonette Orejas
Central Luzon Desk
First Posted 07:04:00 12/02/2008
Filed Under: Graft & Corruption, Housing & Urban Planning
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Armand Arreza Monday urged architect and urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. to reveal the identity of the SBMA official who had demanded an 18-percent commission from his firm last year.
The kickback, which Palafox refused to give, would have helped his firm get on the short list of bidders for a project updating the Subic Bay Freeport’s master development plan, the architect had claimed.
“I want him to name the person for us to be able to take appropriate action,” Arreza said in a telephone interview.
He said he had told Palafox the same thing months ago when the latter informed him about the incident.
“He told me that a man wanted to extort from his company. I told him outright that it was not SBMA’s policy and I would not allow it,” Arreza said.
He said no formal investigation was made because Palafox did not heed his advice to file a formal complaint.
Months after the incident, Arreza still believes the incident never happened.
“It’s absolutely categorically not true that an SBMA guy approached [Palafox] to ask for a commission,” he said.
Palafox Monday revealed more details of the extortion attempt but still did not disclose the identity of the official, who was allegedly part of the SBMA’s bids and awards committee.
He said the demand came through two others before it got to him.
“The bidding man first approached our engineering consultant. Our consultant then told architect Chona (Ponce), my senior associate,” Palafox said.
The alleged message, he said, was: “Nagpapahingi ang anak ni Arreza (Arreza’s son is asking for money).”
Palafox said this was not possible because Arreza’s son was only 9 years old at the time.
“In fairness to [Arreza], I don’t think he was directly involved,” he said.
Pressed to name the person, Palafox said: “Chona did not want to talk. She’s the type of person who wants to lead a quiet life.”
Ponce, former dean of the College of Architecture of the University of Santo Tomas, could not be reached for comment.
Arreza said that with regard to the master plan updating project, Palafox’s company and two others made it to the short list based as selected by a five-member panel.
“While his (Palafox’s) track record is unquestioned, he sent in a relatively junior team. It is not correct for him to say he was disqualified. He did not pass the evaluation so he lost in the bid. He was not disqualified,” Arreza said. With a report from Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon
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