The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the indictment of former Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental mayor Alex Wangkay in the Sandiganbayan for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) in connection with procurement irregularities that attended the bidding of its P5M Small Water Impounding Project (SWIP) in 2009. Impleaded in the graft charge is R. Semilla Construction and Marketing (Semilla Construction) proprietor Roberto Semilla for taking part in the scheme to circumvent procurement rules.
The charges were based on the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) that the procurement procedure under Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act) was not complied with. The COA reported that standard bidding documents were not signed; the “Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid” was not published and posted, and there was no “Statement of Work Accomplished” to support the claim of payment.
Investigation conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman confirmed that no public bidding took place and that even the Bids and Awards Committee had no knowledge of the project. Documents also revealed that despite the absence of a public bidding, Wangkay signed the Abstract of Quotation, Notice of Award and Notice to Proceed.
According to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Wangkay extended unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference to Semilla by “awarding the contract to the latter without the benefit of a competitive public bidding.” In effect, the acts of Wangkay “unduly deprived the government of the best possible advantages thru open competition.”
Under Section 3(e) of R.A. No. 3019, any act relating to a public official’s administrative or judicial functions which causes undue injury to any party, or results to unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference to any private party through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence could give rise to criminal liability. ###