Guillermo Luz Statement on NAIA1 Project

because you still wrongly think that Cobonpue-Layug-Pineda were not given this project by government

and they deserve our thanks, not opprobrium just because the new dotc sec prefers to work with his own kind.

Comments

  1. whats for sure is that the National competitiveness council, is purely advisory. Apparently, this may not have been made clear.

    also, purely advisory is code for pro bono.

    when things need to get done, and money spent, the table is cleared and all “advice” may be thrown out.

    i think this is the REAL problem. it bothers people that the govt asked for ADVICE from a person, and proceeded to DROP their advice/the person. its a waste, inefficiency.

    if anything this issue tells us that either:
    1) the NCC should be more integrated into the traditional infra decision makers
    or
    2) it should be super clear that as an advisory body, ALL work coming from the ncc’s volunteers is considered unofficial.

    my gut tells me that (1) is preferable.

  2. it wasnt just ADVICE. it was 8 months work, 8 months money out to pay their staff and other costs, money they weren’t going to recover, but it was okay, govt having been asked for help, they agreed to help… only to be dismissed so brusquely

    • yeah, thats exactly why the system they have now ( the NCC) is so inefficient.

      i’m sure, the NCC will be scaling back its operations/requests. if so, i agree — if its only advice, why expend so much effort?

  3. GabbyD,
    Taxpayers money was spent on 8 months of work, and the documents ready for bidding, only for the new DOTC chief to now suddenly discover that “hey, it was just pure aesthetics, and now we need to do something structural so we spend the same amount of money on something people don’t see?” Cmon!

    • “Taxpayers money was spent on 8 months of work…”

      no. “pro bono” means no tax money used. neither was it close to bidding.

      however, it still is inefficient, so there should really be a rethinking of what the NCC is about.

    • here’s what i don’t get then. if public money was used, then presumably the outcomes are “still there” with the public officials. in that sense, taxpayer money was not wasted.

      but this raises another question: should public money be used exclusively in the sense of “being paired with” the activities of a particular pro bono group? i bet the answer is no, in which case no pro bono group has cause to complain.

      yet another question: why was this particular pro bono group chosen to begin with? because, supposedly, they’re the best? who decides that?

      • in a project, all elements must be completed for it to have value. they are specialized inputs.

        in other words, if u have pillars for a building, but the building doesnt get built, the pillars are worth less than the materials they are built with.

  4. The Cobonpue / Layug / Pineda team created a masterplan. That plan and their consultation fee was Pro-bono. Additional work including details were carried out by NAIA engineers and architects under close supervision by the trio. This was paid for with taxpayer’s money. The fact that 8 months of work by NAIA staff and PMO was actually undertaken means it was APPROVED by the former DOTC. In fact, the plans were complete and ready for bidding.

    Mar Roxas keeps on talking about a contract. That is immaterial. No one is disputing his right to approve or reject anything under him. Bill Luz’s statement confirms this.

    Its the same banana in our government. Ping de Jesus approves it, and the the new DOTC chief cancels everything his predecessor has made. Its a known fact that Mar Roxas stopped all of Ping’s projects. This one included.

    • sharon :) changing horses in midstream – yan ang tawag sa ginawa ni mar. makes me wonder kung meron pang ibang dotc projects already on stream, na pinagkagastusan na, na umaandar na, under ping de jesus, na na-stop in their tracks and start from scratch ang drama when mar stepped in. of course we’ll probably never know. madilim ang “matuwid” na daan.