IBM Philippines denies violating procurement laws

MANILA, Philippines - IBM Philippines denied allegations that it violated bidding laws as claimed by the state-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The Philippine unit of US-based IBM said “it does not agree" with the statements made by the pension fund which earlier said that the company asked one of its dealers to pull out from a bidding for an IBM Linux server. "When IBM was notified of GSIS's concerns last year, we took immediate action to thoroughly investigate the matter and found there were no irregularities in the way we conducted our business. We shared these findings with GSIS," IBM Philippines said in a statement. IBM Philippines "continues to value the trust that its clients have invested" ever since it has started conducting business in the country. "It remains committed to upholding our high standards of business integrity," the company said. GSIS legal counsel chief Estrella C. Elamparo said she has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into IBM Philippines' violation of the Government Procurement Reform Act. - Ruby Anne M. Rubio, GMANews.TV