Requesting Entity: Municipal Government of Malalag, Davao Del Sur

Issues Concern: Request for Exemption from the Application of the Guidelines for the Implementation of Projects Undertaken “By Administration” or Force Account

Details

Request that the Rehabilitation of Mabini-Lapu-lapu Road and Construction of Reinforced Concrete Box Culvert in Barangays Mabini and Lapu-lapu both of Malalag, Davao Del Sur be exempted from the application of the Guidelines for the Implementation of Projects Undertaken “By Administration” or Force Account

[T]he question of whether the foregoing Guidelines are applicable to the contemplated project which is subject of this opinion depends by great deal on the factual backdrop and circumstances of the undertaking. If the proposed Rehabilitation of Mabini-Lapu-lapu Road and Construction of Reinforced Concrete Box Culvert in Barangays Mabini and Lapu-lapu both of Malalag, Davao Del Sur is considered a project of the Municipality of Malalag and said municipality is not merely engaged by the DAR as constructor or works implementor, then in its implementation it may invoke the provisions of GPPB Resolution 013-2005 and avail of the procedures set therein.

On the other hand, if the infrastructure undertaking is DAR’s exclusive project and the participation of the Municipality of Malalag is merely sought as an instrumentality for the actual prosecution of the civil works, then, the guidelines on “by administration” is inapplicable. The scheme properly falls within the contemplation of an Agency-to-Agency Agreement which may be employed by the concerned government agency and local government unit concerned, through a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), to accomplish the project; hence, dispensing of the need to follow the procedures under RA 9184 as the same is outside the ambit of the said law’s provisions.

Inasmuch as this office is not in a better position to determine whether the “Rehabilitation of Mabini-to-Lapu-lapu Road and Construction of Reinforced Concrete Box Culvert in Barangays Mabini and Lapu-lapu both of Malalag, Davao Del Sur” than the agency and the local government unit concerned, we regret to be unable to categorically state whether the circumstances surrounding the undertaking call for the application of the Guidelines under GPPB Resolution 013-2005. The answer lies within the domain of the determination of the concerned agencies which has to be established so that the application of the guidelines may finally be known.