JV Ejercito, San Juan vice mayor face raps over P2.1-M firearms anomaly

The Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday filed graft and technical malversation cases against Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito over the alleged anomalous purchase of high-powered firearms worth P2.1 million during his term as mayor of San Juan City.

In separate charge sheets filed before the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) charged Ejercito with one count of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and one count of technical malversation as defined under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

Charged with Ejercito were 19 former and incumbent officials of San Juan.

The OSP recommended that each accused pay P30,000 bail bond for graft and P6,000 bail bond for technical malversation in exchange for their provisional liberty.

For the graft case, named as Ejercito’s co-accused were San Juan City Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members, namely city administrator Ranulfo Dacalos, treasurer Rosalinda Marasigan, city Attorney Romualdo Delos Santos, city budget officer Lorenza Ching and city engineer Danilo Mercardo.

Named as Ejercito’s co-accused in the technical malversation case were incumbent City Vice Mayor Francisco Zamora, former vice mayor Leonardo Celles and former city councilors Andoni Carballo, Vincent Pacheco, Angelino Mendoza, Dante Santiago, Rolando Bernardo, Grace Pardines, Domingo Sese, Francis Peralta, Edgardo Soriano, Jannah Ejercito-Surla, Ramon Nakpil and Joseph Christopher Torralba.

Zamora, son of San Juan City Rep. Ronnie Zamora, is running for mayor in the upcoming elections going against Ejercito's mother incumbent mayor Guia Gomez.

Based on the information of the cases, Ejercito, son of former President and incumbent Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, conspired with San Juan City officials for the purchase of high-powered firearms in February to August 2008 during his term as the mayor of the city.

The OSP said the money used for the purchase of the firearms came from the city government’s calamity fund, despite the fact that there was no state of calamity at that time.

The OSP further alleged that the purchase was done in haste without competitive bidding and examination of the supplier’s qualifications.

The OSP noted that the BAC scheduled the checking of the eligibility of prospective bidders from April 26 to April 30, 2008 and yet it had already determined the eligibility of the supplier, HK Tactical Defense System, Inc., (HKTDSI) on April 25, 2008.

The OSP further said that the Notice of Award and Purchase Order were issued to HKTDSI on May 22, 2008, only two days after the opening of the bid on May 20.

Calamity fund

Based on the Ombudsman’s records, the firearms purchased included three units of K2 cal. 5.56mm sub-machine guns and 17 units of Daewoo model K1 cal. 5.56mm sub-machines guns in the total amount of P2.1 million.

The OSP pointed out that under Circular No. 2003-1 of the Department of Budget and Management and Department of the Interior and Local Government, high-powered firearms are not among the items contemplated for disaster relief and mitigation.

The OSP said the use of the government fund – in this case, the calamity fund – for purpose different from the one for which it was originally appropriated by law is considered technical malversation.

Meanwhile, Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act refers to the giving of unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to any party, or on the other hand, causing undue injury to any party by a public official in the discharge of his official functions.

“The payment for the firearms was sourced and taken from the calamity fund of San Juan City which cannot be legally used for said purpose, thereby giving unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to HKTDSI and causing undue injury to the government in the aforesaid amount,” the charge sheet read.

'Politically motivated'

In a text message sent to reporters, Ejercito dismissed the charges against him as “politically motivated” claiming that there was no irregularity found by the Commission on Audit (COA) in the purchase of the firearms.

“It is unfortunate that the Office of the Ombudsman denied my Motion for Reconsideration on the 2008 case of firearms procurement, when I was San Juan City Mayor. My conscience, however, remains clear,” Ejercito said.

“The firearms purchase was done accordingly within the law, that is why COA cleared us from any disallowance. My lawyer and I are preparing the next steps to resolve this case, which is clearly politically motivated,” he added. —ALG, GMA News