Part One
A “BETTER version” of Madrid Fusión Manila.
This was how Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Officer in Charge of the Deputy Chief Operating Office for Marketing and Promotions Maricon B. Ebron described the Buhay Carinderia Redefined project in an interview with the BusinessMirror, a day after it was launched, noontime variety show-style on April 11, amid the posh interiors of the former Army Navy Club, now the Rizal Park Hotel.
She underscored how the project would be able to “teach the LGUs
[local government units] how to promote their cuisines, the ingredients available in their localities, and teach them how to prepare their food cleanly.”
At the launch, speeches by TPB COO Cesar Montano (more than two minutes), and Erlinda Legaspi, president and CEO of Marylindbert International Inc., which owns the exclusive rights and trademark of Buhay Carinderia, were heard, before a jingle reminiscent of political campaigns was played, as dancing boys and girls sashayed on an improvised stage.
Also introduced was self-styled celebrity chef Erwann Heusaff, known for his obsession with the favorite Filipino snack taho (soybean curd), who was tasked to document carinderias (street cafés) all over the Philippines and street food for the project. (See, “TPB to bring lowly ‘carinderia’ food to the world,” in the BusinessMirror, April 13, 2018.)
Then-Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, who Montano now says introduced him to Legaspi “as she is her friend,” also attended the launch, but surprisingly, didn’t lend her thoughts about the project. She left as soon as the variety performance started.
‘Developing our own culinary campaign?’
Ebron stressed then, it was about time we “develop our own brand, instead of paying a lot of money for franchising Madrid Fusión in Manila [MFM].” When repeatedly asked how much Buhay Carinderia costs, however, Ebron kept playing coy, yet insisting that “it costs half of the budget of Madrid Fusión Manila.” MFM, a franchise of the popular Madrid gastronomy event, has featured popular Filipino chefs and ingredients side by side with Michelin-starred chefs from Europe and Asia and their culinary concoctions since its launch in 2015.
But as the public now knows, Buhay Carinderia Redefined actually costs P320 million, as disclosed by Tourism Secretary-designate Bernadette Fatima Romulo Puyat in a recent news conference. She later told this reporter the project was supposed to be implemented in four phases. “They [TPB] planned to bring it not just around the Philippines, but to the world,” she added, citing TPB documents given to her by Montano. [In contrast, the TPB spends only some P40 million to host the annual MFM event, according to sources familiar with the project].
Fortunately, the TPB Board saw it fit to approve the sponsorship only of the first phase of the project, at P80 million, for implementation from March to June 2018 (Northern Luzon), although it was to be a “series of events and fora that will tour in most of the regions and key cities of the country, starting on April 2018 to December 2018 [9 months],” as per Marylindbert’s project proposal. “On its tour around the country, it will choose regional
representatives for the Search for Millennial Food Ambassadors. Part of Buhay Carinderia Redefined is mentoring the students on entrepreneurship and the latest trends on Carinderia Redefined Cooking.”
TPB’s involvement in the project, is as “sole presentor for P80-million inclusion of VAT as Inaugural Salvo to be held in Northern Luzon (CAR, Region 1 and Region 2 with 15 provinces), the first of the series of events of Buhay Carinderia Redefined,” according to the project proposal. The event, formerly known as Carinderia Fiesta, supposedly has been in existence since 2011. The project proposal was also endorsed by Ebron to Montano, whose signature appears as recommending approval. Marian Sarah Garate, OIC of TPB’s finance department, certified that P80 million in funds were available, and Teo signed the form approving said project.
Irregular TPB procedures
Separate documents showed three checks for said project were issued to Marylindbert on March 19, 2018 (P13.44 million); March 20, 2018 (P31.36 million); and April 17, 2018 (P35.84 million), or just six days after the project was launched. The checks were signed by Teo and Montano, with certifications made by project officer Alberto B. Gadia Jr. and Deputy COO Ebron, to facilitate the issuances of the checks.
When quizzed by Romulo Puyat why there was no bidding for the project, Montano said sponsorships were normally done by the TPB. Why the haste in issuing the checks when the project had yet to start, the DOT chief asked. Montano reportedly said he had checked with “his lawyer at TPB who assured him that this was aboveboard,” Romulo Puyat narrated.
But a TPB insider, who requested anonymity, vehemently disputed Montano’s claim that sponsorships like that of Buhay Carinderia project were regularly done by the agency, a marketing arm of the DOT. “Normally, a sponsorship is granted only upon execution of the project. It is only now that it happened in TPB, that [such a] magnitude of sponsorship was granted [i.e., P80 million]. TPB has always observed the process of the government’s procurement law,” the source said.
A separate source also stressed: “Project proposals [to TPB] should always be subjected to evaluation to determine the impact on tourism promotions objectives. It has been the practice of TPB to provide funding assistance to the private organizations, but the level of assistance could be financial, or logistical, or even a mere endorsement.”
Nevertheless, even if Buhay Carinderia Redefined was a sponsored event, payment to the project proponent should have been made “only after the project was completed,” government sources averred. Many regular suppliers and project proponents who have worked with TPB decried the rush to release the checks to Marylindbert. A regular supplier of services to the TPB shared, “the last project we had with them took so long to bill. If I remember correctly, it was over a year before we got paid!”
Romulo Puyat agrees. “It’s difficult to get paid by the government. There are so many requirements the project proponents have to submit first.” She added that it would be, yes, normal, for a supplier or project proponent to be paid only after a year, as has been her experience at the Department of Agriculture, where she was undersecretary for 12 years.
To be concluded