Parañaque mayor, 13 others face graft raps
Parañaque Mayor Eric L. Olivarez (File photo from the Parañaque City Public Information Office)
MANILA, Philippines — Several officials of the Parañaque City government, including first-term Mayor Eric Olivarez are facing graft complaints before the Ombudsman for approving an allegedly “railroaded” contract worth almost P415 million with a new garbage hauler last year.
Aside from the city mayor, also named in the complaint were bids and awards committee (BAC) chair Voltaire dela Cruz; BAC vice chair Johnson Ong; and BAC members Rosa Rebecca Viñas and Josephine Mary Centena.
Also named as respondents were members of the BAC technical working group: Mark Espinosa, Kristine Joy Teston; Francisco Agamata; Ivan Hortilano; Maan Shayne Pausanos; Ricardo Factor; Ronald Austria; Danilo Nopuente; and Leonard John Navata.
In his 25-page compliant filed on Feb. 16, Genaro Clemente, Jr., a resident of Barangay San Antonio, urged the Ombudsman to put Olivarez and his co-accused under preventive suspension “in order to avoid the destruction or manufacture of evidence and to prevent them from threatening and harassing employees of the local government of Parañaque.”
Olivarez awarded the contract to Metrowaste Solid Waste Management Corp. on Dec. 27, 2022, amounting to P414,803,520.
This was just 25 days after the BAC published its call for bidding at the PhilGEPS website on Dec. 2, 2022.
Clemente claimed that Metrowaste failed to acquire the necessary documentary requirements of the bid, which resulted in garbage piling up in the streets of Parañaque during the holidays.
Last month, Olivarez ordered an investigation of possible “sabotage and deliberate acts” by Leonel Waste Management Corp. that resulted in pileup of trash during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
According to the mayor, the garbage collection in the city has returned to normal under Metrowaste.
“There are no more pileups along major and secondary roads as well as inside subdivisions and communities,” he said.
