Ex-Makati official says biddings under Elenita Binay's term only for show

Former Makati councilor Ernesto Aspillaga has confirmed in an affidavit that there was no public bidding held concerning the purchases the city government made during the term of Elenita Binay as mayor.

In the affidavit executed before the Office of the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on July 16, 2015, Aspillaga said "there was no real bidding that occurred during the term of Dr. Elenita Binay as Makati City Mayor."

The OSP has submitted a copy of Aspillaga’s affidavit to the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on Monday in connection with its bid to drop a graft case against him and utilize him as a state witness in the graft case against Mrs. Binay, wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

The copy of the affidavit was released to the media on Tuesday.

Mrs. Binay and Aspillaga are facing two counts of graft before the Fifth Division in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of office partitions and furniture worth P72.06 million from 1998 to 1999 during her incumbency as Makati mayor.

The prosecution had earlier asked the court to allow them to drop the case against Aspillaga, saying his testimony would be vital in the case considering his first-hand knowledge of the alleged anomalous transaction given his position as the former head of the Makati government’s General Services Department (GSD), which was primarily involved in the purchase of the items subject to the alleged rigged bidding.

The prosecution noted that Aspillaga was also a member of the city government's Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

"Moro-moro" bidding

In his affidavit, Aspillaga said the five purchase orders for the procurement of the office partitions and furnishings to be used for the Makati City hall were all done through rigged bidding.

"As head of the GSD and member of the Committee on Awards, I could attest that though there was bidding, [it was] just ‘moro-moro’ or ‘biding-bidingan’. The proper process of bidding was not followed," the affidavit read.

Aspillaga said when the purchase requests for the procurement of the office partitions and furnishings reached his office in the GSD, they were already signed by Mrs. Binay "with an attached note indicating who will be the winning supplier, even before the supposed actual bidding starts."

He said he was certain that the note came from Mrs. Binay as he was familiar with her penmanship.

Aspillaga said such practice was done by Mrs. Binay not only for the purchase of the items subject to thet case with the Fifth Division but also in other purchases made by the city government.

"Upon receipt of the purchase request, my office would prepare all the bidding documents and submit them to the Committee on Awards with the winning bidder already indicated. The documents will make it appear that a regular bidding was conducted when the truth is, there was none," Aspillaga said.

Aspillaga said it was the Committee on Awards, later renamed as the BAC, which will then sign "without question" the minutes of bidding with the declared winning bid.

Dummy companies

Aspillaga cited as example one purchase order signed by Mrs. Binay on September 20, 1999, concerning the procurement of the office partitions and furniture.

He said that as expected, the purchase request for the items came with a handwritten note from Mrs. Binay indicating the chosen supplier.

Aspillaga admitted that his office has a list of companies, which were either dummies, non-operational, or outright fictitious. He said his staff would just pick from the list what company to use "to make it appear that they participated in a bidding."

Aspillaga said he was certain that the two other suppliers did not actually participate in the bidding contrary to what was indicated in the minutes of the bidding.

“I am certain of this because no representatives from the above ‘bidders’ or any other supplier ever came to my office to inquire, secure bid documents or submit any bid or proposal in connection with the subject procurement,” he said.

"I know for a fact that there was no meaningful dissemination of the invitation to bid. The publication in a local tabloid was just for compliance and to avoid detection of the sham bidding," Aspillaga added.

Aspillaga, in his testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon Sub-committee on September 25, 2014 concerning various allegations of corruption against the Binay family, bared that almost all the public biddings in Makati City since 1986 were just a “moro-moro” or for a show.

Cases vs. Mrs. Binay

Aside from her cases before the Fifth Division, Mrs. Binay is also facing one count of graft before the Fourth Division in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of P13.25-million worth of panel partitions, accessories and assorted pieces of furniture also for the Makati City Hall in 2000.

At the Third Division meanwhile, Mrs. Binay faces malversation and graft cases in relation to the alleged anomalous purchase of P45-million worth of hospital beds and medical supplies also during her incumbency as the mayor of Makati City in 2000 and 2001

Mrs. Binay had earlier posted bail for all the cases. —KBK, GMA News