ONE FOR YOU: Not wanting to spoil your Sunday morning, let me begin with a joke.

A storm destroyed some windows of the State Capitol in Sacramento, California. The official in charge of maintenance scheduled a bidding for their repair. Three contractors responded: an American, a Mexican and a Filipino.

The official showed them the windows, allowed them to survey the damage and asked them to offer bids on the spot.

The American contractor took out his tools, made measurements and computations and told the official: I’m bidding $900.

Asked why $900, the American showed his calculations: $400 for materials, $400 for labor, and $100 for his profit.

The Mexican stepped up to measure the damaged windows, scribbled on a piece of paper and offered: I’ll do it for $700!

Asked why only $700, the Mexican replied: Simple, $300 for materials, $300 for labor and $100 for my profit.

The Filipino, a former government official who had migrated to the United States, did not bother to examine the windows. He sidled up to the capitol official and said, “Let me do it for $2,700.”

Quite surprised, the official asked why $2,700. The Filipino whispered to him: “It’s like this -- $1,000 for you, $1,000 for me, and we hire the Mexican guy for $700.”

The next day, work began on the windows – with the Mexican and his crew on the job and the Filipino contractor chatting in the shade with the obviously pleased Sacramento official.

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RIGHT CONNECT: Stories like the one above come to mind when I encounter real life situations showing how bidding for government projects in the Philippines has become a multimillion-peso enterprise for people with “right connect.”

The latest instance is the awarding of a contract for a French-government supported program for the bridges projects of President Gloria Arroyo. This replaces a similar “Tulay ng Pangulo” program financed from loans and grants from the United Kingdom.

After the UK-assisted program was terminated last year, the businessman who had worked it out simply turned to another funding source, this time France, and clinched a similar deal apparently using his contacts in the Palace.

The UK program had been dropped amid reports that the British government was investigating alleged overpricing and illicit commissions. But curiously, the reason given in Manila for stopping it was not serious enough to constitute a major breach of contract.

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DPWH-DAR TANDEM: The budget earlier cited for the UK-assisted program that involved Bailey-type bridges of the British firm Mabey & Johnson was P30 billion.

This is roughly the same amount being mentioned for the substitute French program, so nothing much has been lost by influence peddlers working on it.

Based on available documents, the total cost of the French-assisted program is Euro 388,880,000 (P26,772,304,630) broken down into one part to be handled by the Department of Public Works and Highways and another part by the Department of Agrarian Reforms.

The DPWH project carries a price tag of Euro148,857,008 (P10,248,007,520), while the amount set aside for the DAR package is Euro240 million (P16,522,714,233). It is not clear why DAR is being tapped alongside the DPWH.

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OVERPRICING: A red flag: While the UK-funded bridges program was hounded by charges of overpricing, the replacement program aided by France may attract the same accusations.

The bill of quantity and prices of the French program shows an average price of Euro17,000 (P1,170,359) per linear meter of bridge superstructure before installation. (A sidewalk for pedestrians has to be purchased separately.)

Compare the prices of on-going bridge projects in the Philippines assisted by the UK, Spain and Austria -- which have an average cost of only Euro6,900 (P475,030) per linear meter including the concrete road deck before installation.

The comparison shows that the bridge superstructure purchased from France under the new President’s bridges program is almost 2.5 TIMES HIGHER than the other on-going programs!

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‘UNIBRIDGE’: Matierre, the company chosen to undertake the new bridges program, is a medium-size family-run firm that has developed what it called the “unibridge.” It has no track record in the Philippines.

The financing source is a French export credit facility under COFACE with Bank Paripas. Such loans are usually at concessional rates with a generous grace period.

The technical and financial documents were worked out with utmost secrecy. Only the office of DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane and an Executive Director reporting directly to Malacanang knew what was going on.

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EXPLOSIVE MIX: We don’t want to spoil the fun of President Arroyo and her family members, including the yayas for the young ones, who are looking forward to an enjoyable tour of the US of A.

But before leaving, she should have shown some concern for us who are left behind to grapple with the soaring fuel prices, which as of yesterday had jumped to just 15 centavos short of P60 per liter.

The impression is that Malacanang has abandoned us to the oiligarchs. Bahala na tayo to sink or swim in the oil surge?

The President and the rest of the junketeers do not feel, or care about, the rising cost of oil products -- because all the fuel they need, and more, is paid by taxpayers, not out of their pockets.

They should be reminded that gasoline at P60 per liter and rice at prohibitive prices are an explosive mix.

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