2 DILG officials in Caraga found guilty in P13.8-M graft case

MANILA, Philippines—The Sandiganbayan has convicted two ranking officials of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) of graft for purchasing without public bidding supplies worth P13.8 million.
Carlos Derecho and Quirino Libunao,  former regional directors of the DILG in Caraga Region, were found guilty of violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The anti-graft court found that on separate occasions, the Country-Wide Development Fund (CDF) of former Surigao Del Norte 1st District representative Constantino Navarro was used by the DILG-Caraga to buy assorted medicines, shabu testing kits, rice paddy plows , notebooks, ball pens, and blackboard erasers without public bidding.

During the trial, the Office of the Special Prosecutor established that direct contracting was unjustified and the suppliers were pre-selected by the office of Navarro.

The Sandiganbayan concluded that the transactions unduly benefited suppliers Revelstone Sales International, E.G. Trading, San Marino Laboratories Corporation, and Mr. Bethel Pharmaceutical.

“Suppliers were pre-chosen to supply, for no good reasons at all that cut them above the rest from the pools of suppliers available in the market who could have supplied similar products had there been a public bidding,” the anti-graft court said.

Navarro has yet to be arraigned pending evaluation of his mental condition.

The case stemmed from the special audit conducted by the Commission on Audit. The audit covered transactions from 1997 to1998 involving P13,832,569.38.
Derecho was convicted of seven counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the anti-graft law while Libunao was found guilty of two counts for the same violation, each count having a penalty of six years and one month in jail  or up to 10 years. They are perpetually barred from holding public office.

Co-accused Iluminada Tuble, Gerardo Rosario, Edwin Dizon, and Marlene Corpus, representing the private suppliers, were acquitted for failure to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.  Tuble was ordered to pay the DILG-Caraga the amount of P1,071,721.80 as payment for the price difference per box of medicines sold to the local government.

Another accused official, Benito Catindig, died in 2007 and the case against him was dismissed. Another co-accused Mario Tokong remains at large.

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