VERA Files
President Rodrigo Duterte’s conciliatory approach toward China has reduced tensions in the South China Sea and is a positive development for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), two foreign policy experts said.
ASEAN is 50 years old this year. That is a milestone for a loosely constructed regional organization, which five countries created at the height of the Cold War, to have come this far.
When the government bidded out the P2.8 billion events management contract for the 50th anniversary of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations to be held in the Philippines this year, it tailor-made the criteria so that a favored company would bag the deal, a company excluded from the bidding said.
The Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (DBM-PS) has allegedly violated the government procurement law when it bidded out the gargantuan P2.8 billion events management contract for the hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conferences this year, a company excluded from the bidding said.