Ex-PNP chief indicted for graft

Former PNP chief Alan Purisima/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Sacked Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima and 11 others have been indicted for graft in the Sandiganbayan over the allegedly anomalous awarding of a P100-million service contract to a startup courier firm in 2011.

In a statement issued on Friday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said she ordered the filing of the graft charges against Purisima and his fellow respondents after she denied their separate motions for reconsideration for lack of merit.

The Office of the Ombudsman had earlier found probable cause to hold them liable for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, when they engaged the services of Werfast Documentation Agency Inc. for the delivery of gun licenses without conducting the mandated public bidding.

No public bidding

“Werfast had no corporate existence and juridical personality when the PNP engaged its services through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) executed in May 2011,” Morales said.

She said the agreement granted Werfast the authority “to have the sole responsibility of setting up an online system for firearms license application and delivery.”

“No public bidding was conducted by Purisima et al. and the MOA was entered into despite Werfast’s lack of track record as a courier service company,” the Ombudsman said.

Added Morales: “The document trail—from the execution of the MOA to the issuance of an accreditation policy, subsequent mandatory imposition of courier service fee deliveries, until [the accreditation of Werfast]—reveals measures [were] undertaken to mask a long line of violations.”

 Shooting buddy

Purisima, a shooting buddy of Mr. Aquino and one of his closest personal friends in the government, was axed from the service in June last year after the Ombudsman found him guilty of administrative liabilities over the Werfast controversy.

Also impleaded were Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, retired Directors Gil Meneses and Napoleon Estilles, former Chief Supt. Allan Parreño, Senior Superintendents Eduardo Acierto and Melchor Reyes, Supt. Lenbell Fabia, Chief Inspectors Sonia Calixto, Nelson Bautista and Ricardo Zapata Jr., and Senior Insp. Ford Tuazon.

Included as private respondents were Werfast incorporators Mario Juan, Salud Bautista, Enrique Valerio, Lorna Perena and Juliana Pasia.

Incomplete documents

According to the Ombudsman, the erring PNP officials owned up to their failure to ensure that the courier company’s accreditation documents were complete before it was awarded with the lucrative contract.

It said the accused allowed Werfast to present only the minimum documentary requirements which purportedly showed it had an existing joint venture with CMIT Consultancy Group Inc. and Bautista’s Philippine Remittance Co., which was recently involved in the controversial $81-million money laundering scandal.

The Ombudsman said Werfast demanded a payment of P190 in delivery fee for the firearms permits of gun owners residing within Metro Manila and P290 from those in the provinces.

However, its investigation showed that the company actually tapped a third-party service, leading courier firm LBC Express Inc., for the delivery of the gun licenses since it did not have the capacity to perform door-to-door delivery service.

It said LBC charges its clients only P90 for the same service.