Tingog party=list Jude Acidre
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker has expressed disappointment over the Senate’s decision to refrain from acting on the proposed amendments to the Government Procurement Law, despite President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. already certifying the bill as urgent.
Deputy Majority Leader and Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre said in a press briefing on Thursday that he is disappointed because as a co-author of the bill, he saw how lawmakers and committees exerted effort into crafting the proposal.
House Bill No. 9648 or the proposed new government procurement reform law to change Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act was passed by the House on third reading last December 12, 2023.
At the Senate, however, it has not yet passed through the second reading.
“I know the hardships that we endured for a new and more responsive Procurement Code for the country, and what’s good about this is because we did not stop at a Procurement Code. We matched a new Auditing Code with it […]. It’s quite disappointing actually, to be honest, especially when you’re one of the co-authors na despite the President’s call to certify, (it wasn’t passed),” Acidre said.
READ: Marcos urges Senate to pass the Government Procurement Reform Act
According to Acidre, he hopes Senators would realize the wisdom behind the said bill, especially since there are key changes — like mandating government bodies to procure items of the best value, and not just lowest-priced materials.
“I hope the Senate will make good, especially considering that this is a piece of legislation that’s important to the overall economic and fiscal reforms that the present administration is pursuing,” he said.
“There are individuals, enterprises who had problems with government procurement and the bill was projected really as a response to that, so we can make our procurement process more responsive, efficient and transparent,” he explained.
“In fact, one of the proposals there was to institutionalize preference for the best value procurement which we are pushing, not because the lowest responsive calculated bid is not always correct, right? We also want to get the quality,” he said.
“I hope our Senators will see the importance of that. Clearly the President, by certifying it as urgent, understands the importance of that bill. Unfortunately, the importance or the urgency of that measure has escaped the attention of our friends in the Senate,” he lamented.
Senate’s inaction on the changes to R.A. No. 9184 came after Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said that a new procurement law may be ready for signing by President Marcos by May.
In a briefing on Wednesday, Gonzales said that he met with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday to discuss the proposed new procurement law.
“Pinag-usapan po namin ni Senate President Migz na maipapasa by May. At siguro po, before SONA (President’s State of the Nation Address in July), okay na po ‘yung ating (bagong) Procurement Law,” he said.
(Senate President Migz and I talked about it, that it would be passed by May. And maybe, before the SONA (State of the Nation Address, our new Procurement Law would be available.
READ: New government procurement reform bill advances