Echiverri, 2 aides face raps over drainage works

Enrico Echiverri

Former Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri and two other officials have been charged in the Sandiganbayan for awarding two drainage projects worth P4.71 million without authorization from the city council.

Echiverri, city accountant Edna Centeno and city budget officer Jesusa Garcia allegedly caused undue injury to the government in 2011 by giving unwarranted benefits to E.V. & E. Construction, represented by proprietor Eugenio Leopoldo Garcia; and Golden 3T Construction, represented by proprietress Surlita To, for public works projects in Pleasant View and Amparo Subdivisions.

Aside from being cited for failure to secure prior authorization from the Sangguniang Panlungsod, Centeno and Garcia were also charged with two counts of falsification of public documents.

The two officials were accused of making false statements in the allotment and obligations slips  for the two projects, by certifying that there were appropriations made for them.

Prosecutors recommended  bail at P60,000 for Echiverri’s two graft cases and P84,000 each for Centeno and Garcia’s four charges. —VINCE F. NONATO