Renewal of Supreme Court’s IT consultant contract raises red flag — court exec

The head of the Supreme Court's Management Information Systems Office (MISO) on Wednesday said the continued renewal of the contract of the IT consultant hired by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno raises a red flag.

At the resumption of the House Committee on Justice hearing, lawmakers tackled the hiring of Helen Macasaet as IT consultant for the improvement of the court's Enterprise Information Systems Plan (EISP).

In his impeachment complaint against Sereno, lawyer-complainant Lorenzo "Larry" Gadon alleged that Macasaet was hired without public bidding.

Macasaet's six-month contract was renewed for over four years, which enabled her to earn roughly P11 million in total.

MISO acting chief Carlos Garay bared that while he signed the accomplishment reports, he had no supervision or control over Macasaet.

He also said he had no participation in the drafting of the terms of reference (TOR) submitted to the Supreme Court procurement committee, which eventually led to Macasaet's employment.

Garay said Macasaet's employment was handled primarily by the Office of the Chief Justice and a member of her staff, court lawyer Michael Ocampo.

“I repeatedly protested personally to Atty. Mike [Ocampo] and to the Chief Justice on why there’s a continuing need for the consultant. But they said the consultant is needed," he said.

"In fact, I tendered my resignation last year, June 13, 2016 [sic], because there’s a red flag for me as a lawyer on what’s going on,” he added.

Ocampo countered Garay's statement, saying the TOR was made with input and technical knowledge from then-MISO chief Ed Davis.

Garay likewise questioned the employment of a generalized IT consultant like Macasaet. He said the effects of Macasaet's services are "nothing substantial" to the overall system of the judiciary.

“What I would need probably are specialized consultants—consultants who have specialties in specific fields. For instance, security of information systems. Not a generalised IT consultant,” he said.

SAGIP party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta said Garay's statement was unfortunate.

“In terms of the objective set forth by the EISP, it is supposed to improve the efficiency of the Supreme Court, nothing substantial happened...They were not even participants in the drafting of the TOR,” he said.

Leyte Representative Vicente Veloso, meanwhile, chided Ocampo over the decision to recommend Macasaet's fees in the TOR.

Macasaet's fees had increased from P100,000 per month during her first six-month contract to over P252,000 per month after it was renewed.

Veloso argued that process servers employed by the judiciary received only P15,000 per month.

Process servers, like judges, are considered to be providing lifeline services—or services that are important to the judiciary's workings—and are prioritized by the Congress when it processes its budget.

But computerization services, like what Macasaet provided, are only considered support services.

“Ang inuuna namin [sa Kongreso], kahit na private sector, sina-satisfy namin ang pangangailangan ng lifeline," Veloso said.

"Ito, binaligtad mo. Ang lifeline, process server, hindi tatakbo ang finality ng judgment kung walang process server. You can do away with Ms. Macasaet but binigyan mo ng P250,000 a month,” he added.

The House justice panel is conducting deliberations to determine probable cause to proceed with the impeachment complaint lodged against Sereno. — BM, GMA News