Ex-Lazi, Siquijor officials get 6 years over P4.9-million fertilizer purchase

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced four ex-Lazi, Siquijor officials and one private individual to six years' jail time each after they were found guilty of a 2004 fertilizer purchase amounting to P4.99 million from an unqualified supplier, among other irregularities.

The anti-graft court, in an 85-page decision dated December 7, said that former mayor Orville Fua and former Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members Sue Agnes Castillon, Natalio Jumawan and Rose Marie Tomogsoc conspired to buy P4.99 million worth of fertilizers from Merlyn Lu of Mangopina Trading Company, Inc. without the following:

• proper advertisement of public bidding
• issuance of Invitation to Bid and
• pre-bid conference

All of these are required under the Procurement law and its implementing rules and regulations.

“There is absolutely no showing that the said 'Notice to Bidders' was properly advertised to ensure the widest possible dissemination thereof. In fact, the records do not show that the said document had any semblance of an Invitation to Bid or complied with its prescribed form under the law,” the anti-graft court said.

“At least one pre-bid conference in contracts to be bid with an approved budget of P1 million or more in order to clarify and/or explain any of the requirements, terms, conditions, and specifications stipulated in the bidding documents [is also required by the law, but] the records of this case are bereft of any showing that a pre-bid conference was held in relation to the procurement in issue,” the court added.

Further, the anti-graft court said the BAC did not review any eligibility requirement concerning Mangopina because the same BAC members did not require/receive the eligibility requirements or statements from Mangopina and other two bidders Gelly's General Merchandise and Estajera Store.

The Sandiganbayan then said that “lamentably,” the accused Siquijor officials only relied on the price submitted by Mangopina in the “Notice to Bidders" and declared its bid as "the lowest advantageous to the government.

The recommendation was made by accused BAC members Castillon, Jumawan and Tomogsoc, and was approved by Fua without conducting post-qualification proceedings for three initial qualified bidders, according to the court.

Without the post-qualification proceedings, the Sandiganbayan said, the Lazi officials Castillon, Jumawan, Tomogsoc and Fua were not able to find out that  Mangopina is not qualified to bid because it did not possess a valid business permit and was unauthorized to sell, or offer for sale fertilizers because its Manufacturer-Distributor license had already expired at the time material to this case in 2004.

“Accused BAC members Castillon, Jumawan, Tomogsoc recommended the award of contract to Mangopina and on April 20, 2004, accused Fua and Lu signed Purchase Order (PO) No. 04-00067(A) which paved the way for Mangopina to deliver the subject fertilizers on April 26, 2004,” the court said.

“Conspicuously, (P.O.) No. 04-00067, which directed Mangopina to deliver the subject fertilizers, was also issued on the same day. This, despite that no notice of award was issued to Mangopina, [and] no performance security bond was posted by Mangopina. The Court fails to find any compelling reason for the accused to dispense with the said requirements and forthwith allow Mangopina to deliver the subject fertilizers,” the court added.

The Sandiganbayan said Mangopina then received the amount of P4,990,752 as payment for the fertilizers as evidenced by Land Bank Check No. 65800, dated May 7, 2004 and signed by accused Tomogsoc and Fua.

The cheque was made payable to accused Lu, not Mangopina, even though it was Mangopina that issued an official receipt for the amount.

Lastly, the court said there was no performance security bond posted by Mangopina and such non-compliance should have rendered it disqualified to supply fertilizers.

“Unquestionably, as the then mayor and members of the BAC of the Municipality of Lazi, Siquijor accused Fua, Castillon, Jumawan and Tomogsoc were expected to know and comply with the provisions of R.A. No. 9184 (Procurment law) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations. Instead, the records of this case exceedingly demonstrate that they hastily conducted the subject procurement in blatant violation of the applicable law and rules,” the Sandiganbayan said.

“The Court holds that accused Castillon, Jumawan, Tomogsoc and Fua's blatant violations of the applicable procurement laws, rules and regulations reveal their common criminal design to rig the purported public bidding in this case to unduly favor Mangopina and accused Lu. Consequently, the said accused should be convicted of a Violation of Section 3 (e) of R.A. NO.3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act),” the court added.

The anti-graft court, however, cleared Lazi, Siquijor's former Planning and Development coordinator Teodoro Jumadla, Jr. and Lazi, Siquijor, ex-accountant Ana Marie Leilani Monte of the same graft charge due to the failure of the government prosecutors to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. 

The anti-graft court said the camps of accused Tomogsoc, Jumawan, Castillon, Fua and the late accused Ivan Marchan—Lazi, Siquijor's former Municipal Budget Officer—initially wanted to present Marchan as defense witness between February to March this year, but Marchan passed away.

In addition, the Sandiganbayan said that accused Lu and her counsel Abelardo Albis, Jr. failed to present evidence during two court-appointed dates in March and April, prompting the court to declared accused Lu to have waived her right to present evidence. — BM, GMA Integrated News