Only 4 agencies bid for 20 Makati deals worth P220M

Only four security agencies consistently vied for Makati City’s 20 security contracts worth a total of over P220 million in 2013 and 2014.

GMA News Research found that all four bidders had varying degrees of connection to Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family.  

In the contracts for the security requirements of various offices and pieces of property of Makati City, two companies consistently won and two consistently lost.

The two winning companies secured 10 deals each.

However, one of the companies, indicated in official records as one of the bidders, has denied that it was a part of any bidding for Makati City's security requirements.
 
Binay connection

Minutes of the bid conference obtained from Makati City government showed that only four companies joined the bidding for the City’s security contracts in 2013 and 2014.

They are Triforce Security Services Inc., Omni Security Investigation Inc., Vican Security Services Corp. and Grandjury Security Services Inc.

A review of official documents and testimonies given at the ongoing Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee investigation showed that Triforce, Omni, and Vican have direct links to the Vice President and his family.

Grandjury, based on official Makati documents, is indirectly connected to the Binay family through a client.

Grandjury, however, denied participating in any bids for Makati City.

GMA News tried to contact all four companies, but only Triforce and Grandjury gave statements.

Omni refused to receive a hand-carried letter while Vican refused to give any statement.

GMA News sent letters of request for interviews to suspended Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay and to Vice President Binay through their spokesperson Joey Salgado.

As of posting time, no reply has been sent.

Triforce Security Services Inc

GMA News Research, in an earlier story, reported that the brother-in-law of Sen. Nancy Binay, Jose Emmanuel Angeles, was one of the incorporators and the owner of Triforce from 2004 to 2006.

In 2006, Triforce was a Makati contractor and had billed the city P12.7 million for the security details of the Makati City Hall old and new Buildings and the Makati Youth Center.

Vice President Binay, who was then the mayor of Makati City, and Senator Binay have both claimed that Jose Emmanuel had already divested his shares in Triforce and was no longer connected with the company.

Jack Roxas, the current general manager of Triforce, gave an exclusive interview to GMA News, denying that Triforce received any special favors from the local government.

Roxas said he purchased the company from Jose Emmanuel Angeles in 2007, but said that he fully knew that Triforce had contracts with Makati City before he took over.

Omni Security Investigation Inc.

Omni Security has been the subject of several hearings in the ongoing Senate investigation into the alleged anomalies in Makati City's  transactions.

Whistleblower and former vice mayor Ernesto Mercado has alleged that Vice President Binay owns the security company through his close associate and financial adviser, Gerry Limlingan. Testimonies from other resource persons alleged the same.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council has petitioned that a bank account related to Omni be frozen.

Omni appears as a beneficiary of an account under Gerry Limlingan.

This is among the 242 accounts that have since been ordered frozen by the Court of Appeals.

Omni’s corporate secretary Bernadette Portollano and treasurer Hirene Lopez were contributors to the campaign kitty of the vice president in the 2010 elections.

Portollano contributed P5,000 while Lopez donated P300,000.

Portollano was among those whose bank accounts were ordered frozen.

Vican Security Services Corp.

Vican’s incorporator and president, Jonas Vinarao,  is a contributor to the campaign of the Vice President. His name appears on the VP’s statement of contributions and expenditures with a donation of P20,000.

Vinarao’s name appears as well as the contact person for Corporate Solutions Manpower and General Services Inc. and Unanimous Holdings Inc. in documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Omni’s Portollano and Lopez are officers, too, of Corporate Solutions and Unanimous Holdings.

All three companies—Omni, Corporate Solutions, and Unanimous Holdings—registered the same address with the SEC.

During the last Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee hearing, Makati General Services Department officer-in-charge Violeta Lazo said Corporate Solutions had secured P570 million-worth of contracts for janitorial services for the Makati City government.

GMA News Research sent a letter to Vinarao through Vican’s company email.

In a phone call to the company’s listed phone number, the personnel who received the call refused to confirm whether Jonas Vinarao held office there or was the owner and an officer of the company.

The person who received the call said Vican would not give any statement.

Grandjury Security Services Inc.

Official documents obtained from Makati City showed Grandjury bid for at least 13 of the 20 security contracts for 2013 and 2014.

Among the required documents submitted by Grandjury is a list of ongoing contracts with private or government entities.

The papers of Grandjury indicated a security service contract with a trading company.

(Editor’s note: GMA News has opted not to name this  private firm because it is not a party to the Makati contracts involved in this article.)

Based on SEC documents and interviews, GMA News Research found that four officers of the private trading company are officers of Triforce as well.

The private company’s president from 2011 up to the time it made its most recent disclosures in 2014 is a board member of Triforce. Its treasurer was also a former secretary of Triforce.

Triforce's general manager Roxas, the president and owner of Triforce from 2007 up to 2011, was the treasurer of the  trading company from 2009 to 2010.

He now works as a consultant of the trading company, the client of Grandjury.

Gilmore Bedalis, a board member and the corporate secretary of the trading company, is the operations and administrative officer of Triforce.

Bedalis appears in the Statement of Contributions and Expenses of Senator Binay as a contributor of P 5,000 to her 2013 senatorial campaign.

Triforce and Grandjury were competing bidders in at least 10 contracts for Makati City's security contracts.

Roxas was visibly surprised when asked about the private trading company’s security contract with Grandjury.
 
“I don’t know anything about that. That’s new to me,” he said. “Now if my other partners decided to get a security agency, then I really don’t recall having any that I approved of, at least.”

“He’s (Bedalis) been with us for a long time. As far as him being a political supporter, I have no reservation for them to do so. It can be Senator Nancy, or it could be (acting) Mayor (Romulo) Peña. It doesn’t matter to me,” Roxas said.

However, he added that Bedalis’ political support for Senator Binay had no influence on Triforce.

“He’s one of the mainstays in the company, one of the cornerstones in the company. But as far as him making decisions, it’s all done through a process,” Roxas said.

Triforce versus Grandjury

Triforce and Grandjury competed for at least 10 Makati City contracts.

Triforce won nine of them, losing only to Omni, the other bidder, for the security of Makati Linear Parks in 2014.

Based on the official documents, Grandjury did not win any bidding.



Grandjury: We did not bid for any Makati contract

In a reply to a query sent by GMA News Research, Grandjury, through the company’s email, denied participation in Makati's bidding  procedures.

“No. We never joined any bid for security services for Makati government,” the company said. “ We are not related to the Binays and we are not bidders / contractors.”

“Our company nor any of its stockholders has no relation with any of these Security Agencies: a.OMNI b.Vican c. Triforce," it added.

GMA News Research talked with Vladimir Manipon, Corporate Secretary of Grandjury and he confirmed the email reply.

In light of the statement issued by Grandjury, GMA News Research wrote to Makati City Hall to request an interview with the city’s Bids and Awards Committee.

No reply has been received as of posting time.

Manipon denied, too, that Grandjury had a security contract with the private trading company, as stated in the documents obtained from Makati City.

The letterheads of the bid documents of Grandjury show the name of Grandjury, its address and telephone number similar to information submitted to the SEC.

GMA News Research notes, however, that the name of the person, a certain Dianne Reyes, who consistently signed as Grandjury’s representative in the bid documents did not appear in any of Grandjury's SEC documents.

Manipon denied that a Dianne Reyes worked for Grandjury.

Grandjury is based in Makati City and regularly submits its SEC papers and other documents as part of the requirement for business permits. —NB/KG, GMA News