Sen. Leila de Lima is seeking a legislative inquiry into the
Philippines’ impending deals with Chinese firms that have a history of
fraud, aiming to find out whether the projects would entail “tied loans”
where contractors choose predetermined suppliers without public
bidding.
“We expect these (intended projects) to be foreign-funded by China,
the government or any instrumentality or entity of the state, but most
likely the contractors and suppliers in these projects would also be
Chinese firms. So these could involve tied loans,” De Lima said in a
press conference Thursday morning.
“So we have to scrutinize that,” she said.
Subsidiaries of the China Communication Construction Co. (CCCC), a firm
barred by the World Bank (WB) for fraudulent practices in 2011, are
known to have taken initial steps towards securing contracts for major
infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration.
Among these firms is the China Road and Bridge Corp. (CRBC), which
has been banned by the WB since 2009 for the rigged bidding of a road
improvement project in the Philippines.
Other firms—the China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. and CCCC Dredging
Co.—are meanwhile said to be involved in reclamation activities in the
South China Sea, which is under a standing protest by the Philippines
given unresolved maritime disputes.
De Lima said that while the government has by far forged a memorandum
of understanding, such is already “the first step towards the execution
of the appropriate contract.”
De Lima said her resolution is being drafted.
“It’s a work in progress, but we hope to file it by next week,” she told reporters.
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