Goldilocks emerges as lone bidder for Makati senior citizens' cakes

Bakeshop chain Goldilocks has submitted the lone bid to supply birthday cakes for senior citizens in Makati City. 

 

Gilbert Delos Reyes, the city's new Public Information Office head, said Goldilocks submitted a bid of P8,666,080.50, a bid P700,000 lower than the budget allocated for the contract. 

 

According to the bid information uploaded to the city government's website, the approved budget for the contract is P9,356,100. 

 

Delos Reyes said the contract will run from August 15 to December 31, 2015. 

 

"Ire-review yung bid ng technical working group for seven working days tsaka pa lang puwedeng i-declare kung winner siya (Goldilocks)," he said in a text message. 

 

Acting Makati Mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña Jr. said the low budget for the contract as well as the transparency ensured by the city government over the bidding process did not make the project "attractive" enough to cake suppliers. 

 

"Hindi na siguro kinaya ng iba yung baba ng offer. It's a good sign kasi open naman siya. Nagkaroon ng invitation sa lahat, kaya lang dahil sa baba, what do you expect hindi naman ako kakarga dyan?" he said in a phone interview. 

 

"Maraming nagbigay ng interes nung una, lalaban daw ng pababaan kaso yung transparency kasi nandoon kaya siguro hindi naging attractive," Peña added. 

 

He said Goldilocks will likely be declared the winner being the lone bidder for the contract and that the excess budget of P700,000 will be declared as savings. 

 

Peña previously suspended the contract of Timstate Food and Beverages Corporation, the existing supplier of cakes in the city amid controversies connected with suspended Mayor Junjun Binay. 

 

Mayor Binay, son of Vice President Jejomar Binay, was ordered suspended from his post by the Office of the Ombudsman on June 29 over his supposed involvement in the alleged irregularities in the construction of a ten-storey building in Makati Science High School. 

 

Peña previously said he and his friends are shouldering the costs of cakes purchased from Goldilocks, each ranging from P265 to P280, after he suspended the contract of Bakerite. 

 

Bakerite, which operates in Quiapo, Manila, replaced Cups and Mugs Kitchenette as the supplier of birthday cakes in March 2014. 

 

The owners of Cups and Mugs—the Chong family—are also the listed owners of Meriras Realty and Development Corp., which former Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado claimed was a "dummy" company of Vice President Binay. 

 

A contract was previously awarded to Bakerite for 37,265 cakes to be delivered from June 15 to December 31, 2015, with each cake priced at P354.65. 

 

The notice of award, dated June 11, however was left unsigned by Mayor Binay. — Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/JDS/JST, GMA News