• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez is planning to extend for one month the contract of service of IPM Construction and Development Corporation in the collection, hauling, and disposal of garbage, and has asked the Sangguniang Panlungsod for a Resolution of No Objection (RONO).
IPM’s contract is for eight months, or until Dec. 31 this year, with the city paying the contractor P63.99 million, or P7.99 million a month.
Benitez, in his letter to IPM president Isabelita Mercado dated Dec. 11, said the city government decided to extend the contract for one month, or until Jan. 31, 2024.
The mayor took note of a provision for extension in the Contract of Services between the Bacolod local government unit and IPM Construction and Development signed in April this year.
It states that the contract “is renewable or can be extended for not more than four months at the option solely of the City Government, as represented by the chief executive”, if “still necessary and until a new bidding is successfully completed”.
Mercado said the IPM accepts the planned extension of the contract.
“We are grateful for the trust and continuing opportunity to be of service to the City of Bacolod and we fully assure your good office of our commitment to deliver improved and consistent services for the City,” she said in her letter-reply to Benitez Dec. 12.
The SP committees on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government, and of the Environment and Ecology, chaired by councilors Al Victor Espino and Claudio Jesus Puentevella, respectively, accepted the correspondence received by the sanggunian Dec. 13, and will act on the mayor’s request soon. | CGC
