Biddersays he was trapped in Makati City Hall elevator

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MANILA — To corroborate earlier issues on forbidding a bidder to join a public bidding, a supplier of rescue equipment on Thursday said he was trapped in the Makati City Hall’s elevator during the bidding.

Marcial Lichauco Jr., president of 911 Alarm Inc. surfaced on Thursday in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearing and said that his experience was even worse than what was described on earlier reports.

He said that he was trapped not just for 20 minutes but for over an hour.

Lichauco’s words supported earlier statement made by former Makati general services head Mario Hechanova.

Hechanova also said during a senate inquiry that Makati officials prevented suppliers from joining the bidding.

He mentioned a potential supplier for fire-fighting equipment was trapped in the elevator so that he would be late for the bidding.

He also added that such actions were done to ensure that the bid would be won by contrators who are friends with then Makati Councilor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.

Lichauco, meanwhile, confirmed Hechanova’s statement saying that those were the same experiences that happened to him at the City hall of Makati seven years ago.

“I would like to confirm that the incident described by engineer Hechanova in his testimony happened to us on May 15, 2007,” he told the blue ribbon subcommittte.

He added that he arrived at the hall by 12:53 p.m. for the 2 p.m. bidding, but was trapped in the elevator with other officials.

“The elevator was full, very full and after being trapped for a while, breathing became difficult,” he said.

“Makati City Hall personnel were not able to get passengers out of the elevator until around 1:55 p.m., after lowering the elevator back to the ground floor,” he said.

Lichauco, who missed the bidding, lost to Alecandrite Blue Inc., a company which he said he had never heard of before the bidding.

He also said that he already filed a motion questioning the eligibility of the company and asking then Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay to reconsider their two-minute late bid.