Ex-QC mayor Herbert Bautista, aide convicted of graft

The Sandiganbayan found former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista and his former city administrator Aldrin Cuña guilty of graft over a 2019 procurement of an Online Occupational Permitting and Tracking System (OOPTS).

In a decision promulgated on Monday, January 20, the anti-graft court sentenced both Bautista and Cuña a jail time of six to 10 years each.

Likewise, both are perpetually disqualified to hold public office as a result of their graft conviction.

The Sandiganbayan said that the OOPTS project lacked critical functionalities, “the most egregious of which was the inability to access the same by the public through the internet, despite the fact that the system itself was supposed to be an online occupational permitting system.”

“It stands to reason that the ultimate task that should be met, under the Terms of Reference, is that the occupational permit go fully online for the same to be used by any applicant for an occupational permit. In this case, it truly defeats the purpose if, after the delivery of the hardware equipment and the software that was ready to be installed, assuming all the digital infrastructure (IP address, LAN, SSL, etc.) was fixed, the online occupational permit could still not be accessed online,” the Sandiganbayan said.

While the OOPTS was eventually launched in late 2021 after it was essentially overhauled or merged into a "Hybrid System" to function as designed, the Sandiganbayan said it did not change the fact that Bautista and Cuña gave the go ahead for the Geodata contractor to be paid way ahead of the delivery of its services despite glitches, crashes, and non-functional features afflicting its application.

Instead of immediate payment, the Sandiganbayan said Bautista should have endorsed the project to his successor who could have tested and ran the OOPTS to go online before making the full payment.

“For payment to be approved by accused Bautista at the same time, there was undoubtedly an unwarranted benefit, advantage, or preference given to Geodata. The real score was not to rush payment when all the environment variables required under the Terms of Reference should have been complied with,” it said.

“With all the muddle the OOPTS encountered, the project was indeed prematurely marked as completed when payment was effected to Geodata on July 1, 2019, all to its benefit, advantage or preference. While there was a lack of proof showing actual damage to the government, the prosecution' s evidence clearly showed that the accused unjustly favored Geodata by facilitating payment when delivery was not complete. Undoubtedly, this qualifies as violation of Section 3 (e) of R.A. 3019. Their conviction is thus warranted,” the anti-graft court added.

The Sandiganbayan, however, did not order Bautista and Cuña to pay fines since the public funds involved, amounting to P32 million, was already received by the private firm which is not a party to the case.

The case alleged that Bautista and Cuña exercised partiality in awarding a contract to Geodata Solutions for an OOPTS despite the absence of a specific appropriation approved by the city council.

Bautista told reporters during his May 2023 arraignment for the case that the charge was “politically motivated.” 

“I devoted myself to Quezon City for 34 years, and then because of politics, we have this [case],” Bautista added, referring to his rise from serving as the Sangguniang Kabataan city’s councilor, vice mayor, and mayor until his term expired in 2019.

Bautista, however, did not identify the individuals allegedly behind the supposed politically motivated case against him.

Provisional liberty

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Theresa Dolores Estoesta, who penned the decision, said during the promulgation that Bautista and Cuña will be under provisional liberty given the previous cash bond they posted with the anti-graft court.—AOL, GMA Integrated News