Antique solon, ex-governor face plunder raps over 'anomalous' projects

Two local journalists on Friday filed a plunder complaint against former Antique governor Exequiel Javier and his son, incumbent Antique Rep. Paulo Everardo Javier, in connection with various projects in the province amounting to at least P500 million allegedly done with anomalous biddings.

In an 18-page complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, local radio commentators Wilson Geronimo and Modesto Montano said the two must be held criminally accountable for violation of Republic Act 7080 or the Plunder Law and administratively accountable for non-feasance, malfeasance, dishonesty and grave misconduct.

“Ex-governor [Exequiel] Javier, in conspiracy with, and with the indispensible complicity of his co-respondents herein, purposely and systematically orchestrated the massive raid, diversion and/or misuse of the funds of the Province of Antique as found by the Commission on Audit (COA),” a copy of the complaint read.

GMA News Online was trying to get a reaction from the Javiers as of posting time.

Aside from the Javiers, also named as respondents in the complaint were former provincial administrator and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairman Efren Esclavilla, BAC Secretariat head and provincial general services officer Antonio De La Vega, BAC vice chairman and assistant provincial engineer Ireneo Varono, BAC member Fortunato Fabila Jr. and BAC member and medical officer Ana Maria Moscoso.

Also included as respondents were private individuals Noberto Fedelicio and Nestor Kho Yute, owners of construction firms Settlers Builders and NK Enterprise, respectively.

Based on the complaint, at least P500 million government fund was plundered by the respondents during the term of the older Javier as governor from year 2000 until he was ordered removed from office by the Commission on Elections on February 2, 2015.

Jaview was removed from his seat for suspending a mayor during the election period in 2013.

The complainants said that based on a 2015 audit memorandum from the Commission on Audit (COA), around P500-million worth of infrastructure projects were awarded to Settlers Builders and NK Enterprise with rigged biddings and with the two construction firms having no proven financial capacity to carry out the projects.

“Settlers Builders and NK Enterprises, both suspected to be fronts of ex-Governor Javier, grabbed the giant size of various infrastructure projects,” the complainants said.

“All so-called public open biddings during the watch of ex-Governor Javier were rigged, overpriced and conducted without the proper and required documents as if laws, rules and regulations did not exist,” they added.

Geronimo and Montano said Settlers Builders and NK Enterprise were ineligible as the concerned contracts for the projects were way beyond their Net Financial Contracting Capacity (NFCC).

The complainants have also pointed out that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had earlier black-listed the two construction firms for failure to complete previous projects on time and to submits the necessary documents, yet the older Javier allegedly “hid this fact” and circumvented the DPWH circular.

Aside from the alleged anomalous infrastructure projects, the complainants said the COA memorandum also revealed that the younger Javier still has some P58 million in unobligated and unutilized Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel yet to be returned to the Bureau of Treasury despite an order from the Supreme Court (SC) following a 2013 ruling declaring that the PDAF system as unconstitutional.

The complainants said Rep. Javier had also used to allocate annually about P10 million of his PDAF for a supposed scholarship program in Antique when the provincial government also had the same amount of annual allocation for a scholarship program.

“The P10 million per year allocation of what used to be the PDAF scholarship program of Congressman Javier was also matched with a similar P10 million budget outlay by the Provincial Government for the scholarship of limited students, a case of double entry,” the complaint read.

The complainants alleged that there were still many cases of double-entries in the provincial government that are yet to be investigated further, such as various farm-to-market road projects.

“This (scholarship project) is just one case among the many that must be fully investigated to unearth the scam that included similar double entries for a good number of farm-to-market road projects in the province, simultaneously budgeted by the Department of Agriculture and the provincial government,” the complaint read.

In a chance interview, Geronimo maintained that they filed complaint on their own volition and not because of any affiliation with any political group.

“Itong kaso na ito ay batay sa COA report at batay na rin sa mga salaysay ng mga testigo na nakakausap namin, bilang nasa media rin naman kami,” Geronimo said.

Geronimo said it took them years to file the complaint as they still gathered enough evidence such as testimonies of various witnesses.

“At nagkaroon lang din kami ng lakas ng loob [to file the complaint] nung ma-disqualify nga si Congressman Javier. Because as you know, it is hard to go against an incumbent official,” Geronimo added. —KBK, GMA News