Ex-PNR execs plead guilty to lesser offense

The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division has accepted the plea bargaining agreement entered into by former officials of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) and the prosecution.

Former PNR assistant general manager and Bids and Award Committee (BAC) chair Rafael Faunal Mosura Jr., and BAC members engineering department manager Edgardo Ronan Remonte and officer in charge of the materials management department Constantino Ramirez Dominguez, were earlier charged with graft for allegedly giving undue benefits to Pandrol Korea.

However, they pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of frauds against public treasury and were fined a mere P500 each.

Pandrol Korea won a contract to supply some 170,000 sets of rail fastenings and 50,000 pieces of clips and insulators, despite the company’s noncompliance with the requirements of the government procurement act.—PATRICIA DENISE M. CHIU