Eleven of 15 contracts awarded by the Davao City local government to GenCorp Industries Inc. were conducted through negotiated small-value procurement rather than public bidding, according to testimony presented at the Senate impeachment trial on Monday.
Rendell Sopeña, Division Chief of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), shared the data while testifying before the Senate Impeachment Court in response to questioning from Senator-Judge Risa Hontiveros.
Sopeña detailed that the 15 contracts awarded by Davao City totaled approximately P34.216 million. Of those, four underwent public bidding, while 11 used negotiated small-value procurement, with an estimated combined value ranging between P7 million and P8 million.
“Sa mga kontrata ng Davao City LGU na in-award sa GenCorp, ilan po ang hindi dumaan sa public bidding?” Hontiveros asked.
“Based on, if I remember it right, 15 po—11 po ang hindi dumaan sa public bidding,” Sopeña answered.
When asked to specify the method used for those 11 transactions, Sopeña clarified, “Iyong 11 po is through negotiated small-value procurement.”
After reviewing procurement records in court, Sopeña estimated the value of the non-publicly bidden contracts: “So roughly, mga nasa P8 million or P7 million siguro po ito.”
Hontiveros sought clarification regarding the estimate: “So roughly P7 million to P8 million iyong halaga ng mga hindi dumaan sa public bidding na in-award ng Davao City LGU sa GenCorp?”
“Based on the estimate, yes,” Sopeña confirmed.
The testimony was part of the prosecution’s presentation of PhilGEPS records detailing 49 total government awards to GenCorp valued at approximately P35.88 million. These included 15 from the Davao City LGU, 33 from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Region XI, and one from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Region XI.
Sopeña noted that his testimony was based strictly on records uploaded to the PhilGEPS portal by procuring entities, clarifying that he was not rendering judgment on the legality of using negotiated procurement or whether specific laws were violated.
During cross-examination, Lead House Prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro pointed out that Sopeña’s knowledge was limited to information stored in the PhilGEPS system and did not extend to how the individual procurement processes were physically conducted on the ground.