Gov’t construction body to evaluate private sector projects too

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Domestic Construction Board (PDCB) will be including construction projects in the private sector for evaluation.

PDCB Chief Trade-Industry Development Specialist Leilani del Prado on Thursday, April 25, said this is part of their plan to widen the implementation of the the Constructors’ Performance Evaluation System (CPES) this year.

Under Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, government agencies are mandated to implement the CPES and have their own CPES evaluator. However, only 81 out of 1,828 infrastructure-related agencies have implemented the CPES.

“It’s not well-implemented, maybe because of the budget or they lack people. Because when we went to different agencies, at the municipal level, they only have one engineer,” Del Prado said in a mix of Filipino and English.

“The evaluator cannot do it alone. You have to have a team to evaluate the project to eliminate bias.”

Del Prado noted that the Chuzon Supermarket that collapsed due to the earthquake last Monday, April 22, may not have been evaluated properly as the law does not include private sector projects. Private sector projects are handled instead by local building officials.

“It’s (CPES) applied to government projects first because we are protecting our public investments. That’s taxpayers’ money. After that, we also want to expand to the private [sector],” she added.

The board has partnered with engineering and architecture associations since last year to beef up its capacity to implement the CPES nationwide, given the shortage of CPES evaluators despite a large pool of engineers in the country.

The PDCB plans to add more CPES evaluators, from 1,927 to 2,482 for this year, as the board formulates guidelines on accrediting CPES trainers.

Other plans for 2019 include collaborating with the Government Procurement Policy Board to update the Government Procurement Reform Act, and increasing the number of agencies implementing the CPES from 81 to 100. 

The PDCB is under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines. The DTI earlier announced that it will be tightening the enforcement of standards for construction materials as well.  

Ensuring safety

On Monday, videos of swaying buildings and water cascading from condominium rooftops circulated on social media when the magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit Luzon. Some buildings were damaged. (READ: LIST: Buildings damaged by magnitude 6.1 Luzon earthquake)

In a statement sent to Rappler, Megaworld Corporation said its properties have not sustained any major damage.

“We remain diligent in ensuring the structural integrity of all our development, including our construction sites,” the company added.

Other property firms have yet to release their own statements. – Rappler.com