Swiss challenge not a foolproof scheme

There will be no more public bidding for government projects.

Instead, a government agency planning to undertake a big project can receive an unsolicited proposal from a private group and invite others to match or surpass it. The first proponent can then match the counterbid or top it.

This method is called the Swiss challenge which, according to President Duterte, is expected to do away with kickbacks and delays in the implementation of government projects.

The government has always been at the losing end of a contract for a project or a purchase because officials get “commissions” from contractors or suppliers.

Substandard materials are used since the contractors or suppliers pay off government officials — heads of agencies and field officers — big-time for them to bag the contract.

Haven’t you noticed sloppily constructed or unfinished roads and bridges or equipment that easily break down?

They’re products of kickbacks.

A blatant example was the P1.2-billion purchase of refurbished military helicopters during the administration of Noynoy Kuyakoy.

The choppers were made from scraps from a German Army junkyard, shipped to the United States and pieced together.

Most of them have since crashed, killing some Air Force personnel.

Here’s what Mr. Duterte should watch out for in the Swiss challenge: Connivance between contractors or suppliers.

Suppliers or contractors often form a syndicate to bag a big government contract.

The result is that the government ends up a loser because the awarded contractor or supplier will buy dirt cheap materials or equipment to pay off other members of the
syndicate.

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The most significant news that came out of Mr. Duterte’s visit to India is that inexpensive but quality medicines may soon become available to poor patients in the country.

India sells inexpensive medicines for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, antibacteria and cancer.

These medicines are sold in the country at prohibitive prices because they’re made by multinational pharmaceutical firms.

Instead of having Indian companies set up pharmaceutical factories here, why doesn’t the President just allow local small and medium-scale pharmaceutical companies to import raw materials at low import tax rates, even zero?

They can then sell their medicines at prices even the poor can well afford.

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The Philippine Army tolerated the behavior of Col. Basilio Dumlao who lived with a married woman at a camp in Isabela.

Dumlao, who retired last week, entered into a relationship with the wife of an overseas contract worker who was in Russia.

Dumlao, then a provost marshal, and the woman lived as husband and wife at the camp of the 5th Infantry Division.

And yet, in exonerating Dumlao, the Army said the husband’s complaint didn’t come with “clear and convincing evidence.”