MANILA, Philippines?Collusion is part of the way contractors do business but it does not mean that public works officials are involved in it, according to Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane.

Ebdane said officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways ?cannot prevent contractors from talking among themselves? and comparing bid prices.

?But it doesn?t mean that the DPWH is part of it,? as is being insinuated, he said.

The World Bank recently barred three Filipino contractors from bidding for agency-funded projects after a bank investigation found that the three firms and four Chinese companies had colluded to rig the bidding for a $33-million WB-funded road project in the country.

The Washington D.C.-based multilateral agency also said that Filipino politicians and government officials knew about the bidding anomaly.

At a press briefing Tuesday, Ebdane said bid rigging was nothing new to the DPWH but stressed that department officials had nothing to do with the contractors? practice.

He said the department had in the past sanctioned and blacklisted 700 contractors for colluding with other companies by backing out of projects, he said.

The secretary described how the collusion occurs. He said the construction companies would band together for a bidding and agree which one of them would win the contract. The winner then pays off the other members of the group.

He said this typically occurs when there are only a few firms competing for one contract.

This is part of the companies? way of doing business, he said.

?In any kind of business, there is always cheating. That will never go away,? Ebdane said.

?There are people who gain and there are people who lose in business. It?s a cut-throat competition. We also have economic sabotage, which is prevalent now,? he said.

Ebdane said it would be difficult for the DPWH to institute any kind of anti-cartel mechanism or stop contractors from conferring among themselves.

Some other government agency should monitor these kinds of activities, he said.

The World Bank last month said its investigation had ?uncovered evidence of a major cartel? involving local and international firms bidding on contracts under the first phase of the National Roads Improvement and Management Program, known as NRIMP 1, a project involving various road developments all over the country that the bank had agreed to fund.

The firms were said to have colluded with each other and government officials responsible for implementing the bidding process for the $33-million project.

It disqualified the three Filipino companies from bidding for WB-funded projects for varying periods: E.C. de Luna Construction (permanently barred); and Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp. and CM Pancho Construction (both barred for four years).

The four banned Chinese firms were: China Road and Bridge (eight years); China State Construction and China Wu Yi Co. (both six years); and China Geo-Engineering (five years).

Ebdane said the DPWH could not extend the 15-day suspension it imposed on the seven construction firms following the World Bank ban, saying it would be ?illegal.?

He said the WB indictment only covered WB-funded projects and not local ones.

The DPWH is conducting its own investigation of alleged bidding irregularities for NRIMP I. Ebdane said an internal investigation team will take from two to three months to complete the probe. Kristine L. Alave