The Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or Pag-IBIG) denied yesterday
having given multi-million-peso contracts to Omni Security Investigation
and General Services, Inc., which is being linked to Vice President
Jejomar C. Binay. In a statement released by Binay’s office, Pag-IBIG Fund President
and CEO Darlene Marie B. Berberabe also disputed a report that the said
security agency secured contracts with Pag-IBIG Fund that allegedly did
not go through proper bidding.
Binay is the chairman of the Pag-IBIG Board of Trustees being the
head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).
“The message sought to be conveyed is that Pag-IBIG Fund is involved
in shady deals, a message that is most unfair, for it is unsupported by
facts,” Berberabe said.
“Pag-IBIG Fund has never awarded multimillion-peso contracts to Omni
apart from the contract for the security detail of the CEO,” she added.
Berberabe clarified that “the contract awarded to Omni was for her
personal security and that it was an emergency procurement brought about
by death threats to Pag-IBIG officers during the time.”
She added that such direct procurement is “allowed and recognized
under the Government Procurement Reform Act or R.A. 9184 under certain
circumstances which were present in this case.”
