Bulacan gov, exec say purchases aboveboard

CITY OF MALOLOS—Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado on Monday said medical supply purchases undertaken by his administration were aboveboard and were not deliberately split into smaller requisitions to skirt the mandatory procurement process that requires a public bidding.

Alvarado and 21 provincial officials faced graft complaints filed on Jan. 20 in the Office of the Ombudsman by a Norzagaray town resident who claimed that the provincial government bought P1.7-billion worth of medical supplies in small installments that benefited choice suppliers.

The complaint was filed by Jocylina Casimiro, who ran but lost in the race for Norzagaray councilor in 2013.

Alvarado said the medical supply purchases were made as the need arose, because these were distributed by teams of doctors and health workers to 569 villages in Bulacan under the province’s “Kapitolyo sa Barangay” program.

He said under the law, purchases below P500,000 could be undertaken without bidding.

Alvarado also disputed the amount of medicine he was supposed to have purchased in a year, as charged by Casimiro. He said the province’s annual budget was a little over P2 billion.

He said all government transactions at the provincial capitol passed the scrutiny of the Commission on Audit.

Lawyer Jeffrey Cruz, Bulacan provincial legal officer, who was also charged in the Ombudsman, said medicines purchased for the village aid program could not be bought in bulk.

“The medicines have expiration dates. Our hospitals do not have the room to stock bulk supplies of medicine. Had we done so, five refrigerated rooms in our hospitals would not be enough to store them,” Cruz said.

The lawsuit implicated Alvarado’s chief of staff, Jim Valerio, who also chairs the provincial government’s bids and awards committee.

Casimiro also charged provincial administrator Eugenio Payongayong, provincial budget officer Marina Flores, provincial general services office head Kenneth Lantin and provincial treasurer Belinda Bartolome.

Also included in the complaints were provincial engineer Glen Reyes and supply officer Carina San Pedro-Espiritu. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon