Ebdane, Vitangcol indicted for graft
In the know: Ebdane Case
In July 2012, Consolidated Mines Inc. (CMI) filed graft charges in the Office of the Ombudsman against Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and other Zambales officials for allowing small-scale miners to take over its mines in the province and to haul off its stockpile of minerals.
CMI president Benicio Eusebio accused Ebdane and other Zambales officials of granting permits to small-scale miners to take over the company’s mines in 2011 and to transport chromite fines, which were left over from 50 years of chromite mining in the company’s Masinloc site.
CMI, a company engaged in the mining, milling and trade of gold, silver, copper and other minerals, said it holds the mineral rights in the area, which was covered by the Coto Chromite Project in Sitio Coto, Masinloc town, known as Coto Mines. Coto Chromite has a mineral production sharing agreement now pending renewal by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
The Central Luzon Environmental Management Bureau said the permits issued by Ebdane to six small-scale mines were invalid and that their owners were operating illegally.
It added that the small-scale miners should not have been operating in the first place because of the lack of environmental clearance.
On July 23, 2013, the Supreme Court granted a temporary environmental protection order requested by 10 Zambales residents who sought a stop to the issuance and use of small-scale mining permits (SSMPs) in their area by Ebdane and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The 10 Masinloc residents filed the 35-page petition on July 17, 2013, saying that Ebdane had issued all 93 SSMPs on July 12, 2011.
In issuing the permits, Ebdane invoked Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1899, but the petitioners said the PD had been repealed by the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991 or Republic Act No. 7076. Inquirer Research, Source: Inquirer Archives
In the know: Vitangcol Case
In May 2014, Malacañang replaced Metro Rail Transit (MRT) General Manager Al Vitangcol III following allegations of conflict of interest in connection with an $11.5-million (P517-million) maintenance contract. The contract was awarded to Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corp. (PH Trams), whose incorporators included Arturo V. Soriano, an uncle of Vitangcol’s wife.
Prior to this, in July 2013, Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Josef Rychtar had accused Vitangcol of extortion for attempting to extort $30 million (about P1.3 billion) from the Czech train manufacturer Inekon Group in exchange for choosing Inekon as the supplier of 48 brand-new trains to the MRT.
In response to both accusations, Vitangcol maintained that his wife’s uncle had divested himself of his stake in PH Trams before it got the maintenance contract. He also denied the extortion charges.
In June 2014, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered an investigation on Vitangcol and businessman Wilson de Vera in the alleged extortion attempt, and for awarding without public bidding the MRT 3 maintenance contract to PH Trams, where De Vera was also an incorporator.
In September 2014, Vitangcol, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and 19 others were charged with graft by the Ombudsman.
The charges stemmed from the December 1997 train maintenance agreement between the MRT Corp. as facility owner, and Sumitomo Corp. The agreement expired in June 2010 but was extended four times until October 2012.
Documents gathered by Ombudsman investigators showed that 15 days before the expiration of the last extension, the bids and awards committee adopted a resolution to get an interim maintenance provider for six months and negotiated its terms and conditions. Inquirer Research, Source: Inquirer Archives
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