By Joel E. Zurbano

PUBLIC Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. yesterday admitted that construction firms bidding on government contracts ?talk among themselves,? but denied his agency was conniving with any of them.

?We cannot prevent contractors from talking among themselves, but that doesn?t mean [the department is involved],? Ebdane said in a press conference.

He also said the presence of the World Bank in his department?s undertakings made any kind of collusion difficult.

?I just hope that we can replicate what happened in Indonesia, where they jailed [dishonest] foreign contractors,? he added.

Ebdane said he has ordered his men to complete their investigation of alleged rigging in the bidding for a World Bank-assisted road improvement project.

?We should come up with the result as fast as we can. It would be better if we finished before the Ombudsman came up with the result of its own investigation,? Ebdane said.

The World Bank had earlier barred Filipino-owned firms E. C. de Luna Construction Corp. and its owner Eduardo de Luna; Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp.; CM Pancho Construction Inc., and four Chinese firms?from participating in other bank-funded projects over allegations that they rigged the bidding process.

But Ebdane lifted the 15-day suspension on the three local firms that prevented them from joining any bidding for locally funded or foreign-assisted projects.

?We have said from the start that due process is required and due process will be followed,? he said in reaction to the clamor that the companies be blacklisted outright.

?They base this call on the findings of the World Bank, that more likely than not there was collusion through clustering and rigging of bids among the said contractors.

?However, the guidelines of the new Government Procurement Act are very explicit on the blacklisting of contractors, foremost of which is that such blacklisting be done through a process as defined in the guidelines.

?Furthermore, just to blacklist them without due process has no legal basis, and is not an option in a democracy,? Ebdane said.

Despite the flak over the World Bank blacklist, Ebdane said, he would not endorse an amendment to the General Procurement Act.

Instead, he said, the department had created the Program Management Office to oversee the management of programs and the delivery of project results.