MANILA, Philippines?For awarding a government contract to an unlicensed construction company without public bidding some 13 years ago, a former city mayor in Nueva Ecija is to serve 10 years? jail time.

The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, in a decision promulgated on Monday, found former Munoz City Mayor Efren Alvarez guilty of graft and slapped him, aside from the jail term, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office. He was also ordered to pay the city more than P4 million in compensation.

The court also observed that the Office of the Ombudsman should have included in the case the entire city council of Munoz, instead of just Alvarez, since "it has conspired if not abetted all the actions of the accused in all his dealings with (the company) to the damage and prejudice of the municipality."

The case stemmed from the awarding of a P240-million contract under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme to the Australian-Professional Incorporated (API) to build the Wag-wag Shopping Mall in 1996.

However, the prosecution said, the API did not have a construction license based on the records of the Philippine Construction Accreditation Board (PCAB). No public bidding was also held.

The court said: "In sum, the accused railroaded the proposal of API and disregarded the law. There was no competitive bidding. The contractor was totally unqualified to undertake the project. The loss could not have occurred had the accused not violated the relevant provisions of the laws, rules and regulations."

For instance, the court observed, the API did not even submit a complete project proposal. The firm did not also submit a company profile, which would have immediately clarified that "API was only in existence for a little more than three months during that time and it has not yet completed a single project."

The court also said, "If the general welfare of the municipality and its inhabitants was the priority of the accused, he should not have pushed for the acceptance and approval of the API's proposal and entered into the contract when he knew that it was not qualified and the laws were ignored."