PHL organizing panel assures public SEA Games management system above board

The Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) maintained on Monday that it complied with the Procurement law in bidding out SEA Games Information Management System and clarified that the contract for it has not been awarded to information technology company Atos Group.

Lawyer Jarie Osias of the PHISGOC issued the statement in response to an earlier report that Atos was asking a court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the PHISGOC, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) over what Atos claims was an irregular bidding of the SEA Games Information Management System last August.

The Philippines will be hosting the SEA Games from November 30 to December 11.

“Given that the reputation of the Philippines is at stake in hosting the 30th SEA Games and that the government, through the DBM Procurement Service, strictly followed the procurement rules, we shall continue to defend this monumental event against those who believe they are above the law or exempt from legal requirements,” Osias said in a statement.

“Letters from the PHISGOC cited [by] this IT firm do not prove that the project was awarded to it since all cited correspondences uniformly state that any engagement is subject to the signing of a final legally binding agreement between the parties,” Osias added.

Likewise, the PHISGOC argued that the Atos Group has actively participated in the public bidding conducted by the Department of Budget and Management until it was eventually disqualified by the government.

Having said that, the PHISGOC assured the public that the SEA Games Information Management System will be in place for Manila's hosting of the SEA Games.

"Therefore, to reiterate, there is no TRO or injunction by the Court to date, which means there is no legal obstacle for the SEA Games Information Management System to proceed as scheduled," Osias said.

Manila's last iteration of the biennial SEA Games was in 2005, an event that concluded with the Philippine team topping the medal chart with 113 gold medals. — MDM, GMA News