N. Cotabato gov indicted for graft

North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Mendoza. PHOTO FROM www.cotabatoprov.gov.ph

NORTH Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza on Friday found herself facing graft charges for an illegal procurement she authorized in 2010, ahead of a raft of charges that two lawyers’ groups plan to bring against her over the dispersal of a farmers’ rally that left three people dead in Kidapawan City on April 1.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales announced yesterday that she would charge Mendoza with three counts of graft in the Sandiganbayan for buying P2.4 million worth of diesel fuel for a road construction project from a gasoline station owned by her mother.

Morales said Mendoza approved the release of P2.4 million from the provincial coffers to pay for 49,526.72 liters of fuel to be used by a road grader and four dump trucks during a two-day road rehabilitation project in Magpet.

The Ombudsman faulted Mendoza for not calling a competitive bidding for the fuel supply.

Instead, Mendoza directly contracted the gas station owned by her mother, the Ombudsman said.

Mendoza’s defense

In her defense, Mendoza told the Ombudsman that “the Taliño Shell station (was the only one) willing to accommodate the credit term requested by the provincial government.”

But Morales rejected the explanation, insisting “there was no compelling justification for dispensing with the requirement of public bidding.”

“The great disparity between the estimated 552 liters of diesel actually consumed for the two-day road maintenance project in Magpet vis-à-vis the 20,833 liters actually paid for, is proof that the fuel-purchase transaction is illegal and that this transaction is obviously a scheme to pocket government funds,” the Ombudsman said.

Violence against farmers

The Ombudsman added that Mendoza “made it appear that the diesel fuel was procured and used in a government project when in truth, only a small portion of the fuel was actually used and the rest was converted into cash for the benefit of those who were involved in the fraudulent transaction.”

Mendoza, who is running for reelection as a candidate of the ruling Liberal Party, is under fire from rights groups and lawmakers for allowing riot police to disperse a rally by 6,000 drought-hit farmers demanding food assistance from the provincial government in Kidapawan.

Three farmers were shot dead and scores of other people, including policemen, were injured in a melee that erupted when riot police used water cannon to disperse the protesters.

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), its affiliate Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao and other groups are forming a team of at least 10 lawyers to bring criminal, civil and administrative charges against Mendoza, sacked North Cotabato police commander Supt. Alexander Tagum and others responsible for the violence.

NUPL secretary general Edre Olalia said on Sunday that the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption had signaled its willingness to join the legal action as cocomplainant.

The Senate and the Commission on Human Rights are investigating the incident that has drawn attention to the government’s slowness in coming to the aid of victims of calamities.

North Cotabato has reported over P1 billion in agricultural losses due to drought caused by El Niño.