MANILA, Philippines—The controversy over the suspended P429-million noodle program of the Department of Education (DepEd) has turned into a word war between two competing bidders.

On Wednesday, the company that won the contract, Jeverps Manufacturing Corp., scored bidding rival Kolonwel Trading after the latter admitted that it had a foreign partner that was capable of supplying the noodles for the DepEd feeding program.

And Kolonwel put in a few shots, saying that the contract should be rebidded and that Jeverps should be excluded.

“Kolonwel has no qualms (about) subsidizing the workers of (foreign countries) and reducing the much needed dollar reserves of the Philippines,” said Jeverps legal counsel and spokesperson Chito Dimaculangan in a statement.

He made the statement after Kolonwel said that while it was just a trading company, it has a joint venture agreement with a big international noodle manufacturer that can supply the needs of the DepEd’s feeding program. Kolonwel made the statement in response to the remark of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus that it was not even qualified to bid for the noodle project.

BFAD supervision

A former officer of Kolonwel, Dennis Quido, has filed corruption charges against Lapus in connection with the noodles contract.

“It must also be underscored that the malunggay-fortified noodles … will similarly be produced within the manufacturing plants of JMC under close and watchful supervision and monitoring by both DepEd and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD). This cannot happen if the noodles are imported like what Kolonwel is trumpeting,” he said.

Dimaculangan said the inspection by both DepEd and BFAD was “essential and vital” not only to ensure that the noodles meet government standards but also “to guarantee that the noodles are free from harmful additives like melamine or even formalin.”

“It was widely reported in the recent past that some food items manufactured in countries like China or even those closely connected with it like Vietnam were tainted with melamine as protein enhancer or formalin for longer shelf life. Noodles are included on the list of food items that the United States Food and Drug Administration have found to contain the said deadly additives,” Dimaculangan said.

Local vs foreign

He added that under the Government Procurement Reform Act, procuring entities like DepEd are specifically directed to “give preference to the purchase of domestically produced and manufactured goods, supplies and materials that meet the specified or desired quality.”

“Quite clearly, the law favors local producers like JMC as against foreign manufacturers,” Dimaculangan said.

Kolonwel, for its part, suggested that the bidding process be drastically revised and the contract rebidded to ensure transparency and fairness.

Quido, a former sales manager of Kolonwel, also said Jeverps should also be excluded from the new bidding since it had been charged with graft before the Ombudsman.

“The process must be revised to erase doubts in the public’s mind that they will cook this up,” said Quido in an interview.

Open bidding

Lapus said that an “open bidding” would be held for the project so that the school-feeding program could still proceed for this school year. He said he had met with industry players to review and provide inputs for the new bidding.

“The bids and awards committee should also be overhauled so that we would have new people there,” Quido said.

He said that one of the terms of reference that requires bidders to supply packs of 100 grams of noodles should be revised and lowered to just 55 grams so that more manufacturers would join the bidding.

“Most of our noodle companies make packs of 55 grams. That is what is acceptable and is considered as the actual need of consumers so it should be lowered to 55 grams to invite more interested bidders,” Quido said.

He said that despite Lapus’ statement about having a new bidding, he was actually concerned that DepEd would just revive its deal with Jeverps “once the noise has gone down.”