NPO officials plead not guilty to graft over bidding fraud

Dismissed National Printing Office (NPO) acting director Emmanuel Andaya on Monday pleaded not guilty to the charge of graft as he sought the court’s approval to travel abroad.

In a hearing before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, Andaya and his co-accused Ma. Gracia Enriquez underwent conditional arraignment to enable the court to resolve their motions for leave to travel abroad.

Andaya asked the court’s nod to travel to Singapore from June 16 to 19 to attend the wedding of his son Rocky Andaya.

Enriquez  wanted to travel to Tokyo, Japan from May 19 to 24 to accompany her brother in his business meetings.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor opposed their motions to travel, questioning the necessity of their travels and citing the lack of details on their itinerary.

They were charged with graft over the anomalous procurement of travel clearance certificates for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) without the benefit of a public bidding.

READ: NPO officials charged with graft over bidding fraud

According to the graft information sheet, Andaya and five others – Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chair Sylvia Banda and BAC members Josefina Samson, Antonio Sillona, Bernadette Lagumen, and Ma. Gracia Enriquez – violated Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The charge sheet said in Nov. 2010, Andaya as director and head of procurement and the other respondents conspired with each other with evident bad faith, manifest partiality and gross inexcusable negligence by criminally awarding to Advance Computer Forms Inc. the contract for the printing of 1,000 NBI travel clearance certificates (TCC) worth P1.9 million.

State prosecutors said that the contract, which pegged the price at P1,900 per box or P1.9 million for 1,000 boxes, was awarded “without conducting a competitive bidding or public bidding nor justified by the condition provided for by law and existing rules in resorting to alternative method of procurement.”

The prosecution said the absence of a public bidding violated the government procurement law and deprived the government the opportunity to obtain the lowest calculated bid, causing injury to government.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said Andaya approved the BAC resolution resorting to emergency procurement of the TCCs at P1,900 per box.

READ: NPO officials to face graft charges for bidding fraud 

The accused also authorized the advance delivery of the TCCs before the issuance of a notice of award.

The Ombudsman said there were no conditions to justify the absence of public bidding and resort to the alternative mode of procurement.

Morales said “the conditions to resort (to) the alternative methods of procurement are not empty words but were specifically crafted to guarantee that no personal preference is given to any supplier and that the government is given the best possible price for its procurement, especially since no public bidding is involved.” JE/rga