Veteran journalist Charie Villa on Monday teared up as she pinned down the chairperson and CEO of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Jose Vicente Salazar, for the suicide of her brother, the late director Francisco Jose “Jun” Villa Jr., over alleged corruption in the power regulatory firm.
During a joint inquiry in aid of legislation by the House of Representatives committee on good government and public accountability and committee on energy, Villa said before the suicide, her brother kept mentioning Salazar as the one who pressured him to sign illegal documents being the chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
READ: House probe on Villa suicide over ERC corruption turns emotional
Her brother, however, did not identify the rigged projects, Villa told the House committee.
“That day before he took his life, he told me, chairman Salazar is pushing me to sign illegal documents,” Villa said.
Villa said her brother kept mentioning Salazar and Esteban Lorenzo Riva, who is Salazar’s head executive assistant who turned out to be Salazar’s cousin, over the rigged bidding process.
“Si Chairman Salazar, siya po, wala nang iba,” she added when asked who else her brother named before his death.
Villa said she had breakfast with her brother once who told her he could not face work because of pressures for him to rig bidding documents.
Villa quoted her brother as saying: “Hindi ko na kayang pumasok, may pinapapirma sa aking iligal na dokumento kasi BAC chairman ako (I can’t go to work anymore. There are illegal documents I have to sign as BAC chairman).”
She quoted her brother as telling her: “Charie may mga pinapapirma sa aking kontrata na iligal, di ko kaya (Charie, there are illegal contracts they want me to sign. I can’t do it).”
Villa said she even advised her brother to resign from the ERC after his revelation about the alleged corruption.
Villa and Salazar were separated two seats apart.
As Salazar explained to the committee that he was allowed under civil service rules to appoint his cousin despite conflicts of interest, Villa looked at Salazar straight in the eye.
Villa said she did not want to seek an audience with Salazar even though he was mentioned by her brother as the one who pressured him.
“He’s my brother. I lost him. We lived together… There was this person who forced him to take his life… For me to go to Chairman Salazar and talk to him,… I never considered that,” Villa said.
For his part, Salazar maintained that he was allowed under civil service rules to appoint his cousin to the ERC.
“There are things that would require trust and confidence,” Salazar said.
Salazar maintained that he was not made aware of the procurement process of three projects which were granted without public bidding.
In her affidavit, BAC Secretariat Head Cherry Lynn Gonzales said the concept-making for ERC’s audio-visual presentation (AVP) split into four terms of reference at P375,000 each in a bid to avoid public bidding.
This AVP project Salazar allegedly wanted rigged was mentioned in Villa’s suicide notes.
The BAC was undertaken to conduct pubic bidding just to comply with the public bidding rule even though Salazar wanted Luis Morelos of Fat Free to do the project, according to Sharon Montañer, a BAC member, in her affidavit.
The two BAC members also testified about the renovation or a board room next to Salazar’s office which was completed prior to the conduct of a public bidding.
The contractor Primeart Builders Inc. asked the commission to reimburse its expenses on the renovation project, Gonzales said.
Montañer added that the BAC agreed to “stage” a bidding after the renovation project with the hope that Primeart would win.
Lastly, the two BAC members testified about Salazar’s request for reimbursements for pest control services and a Microsoft Office software purchase, among others which did not go through the benefit of public bidding.
Salazar downplayed these small-value procurement, adding that he as ERC chair do not have much say in the procurement process especially if the amount is small.
Salazar, the head of the procuring entity, said he was not “made aware” of the procurement.
“I just want to clarify and make this clear. Even in large government agencies, the heads of agencies, including the secretaries of these departments, they don’t involve themselves with the procurement process especially if the amount involved is not as enormous as what other people are thinking right now,” Salazar said.
Good government and public accountability committee chair Surigao Del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel scored Salazar for downplaying the allegations of rigging involving small value projects.
“It’s not the amount involved. What matters is the wrongdoing in the procurement… the manner of procurement you violated,” Pimentel said.
The congressman said he even had information Salazar wanted to speed up the procurement for the purchase of a coaster and the renovation of the boardroom in time for the ERC chairman’s birthday.
Villa said even though the projects allegedly rigged were involved in small-value procurement, these were a “big deal” for honest government officials like his brother.
“Pinagtatawanan natin pest control, renovation, nakakatawa dahil maliit na halaga. Pero sa isang kawani, malaki yun. Magkano lang ba ang sinesweldo ng kapatid ko? Sa kaniya, malaking bagay yun,” Villa said.
(We laugh at pest control, renovation, because these involved small amounts. But for a government official, that’s a big deal. How much does my brother earn anyway? For him, that’s a big deal.)
“I feel for government employees na naiipit (who are dragged into this). Kung may mali sa law sa procurement, pakitama, dahil may mga kawaning naiipit (If there is something wrong with the procurement law, please correct it, because there are officials being dragged into it,” she added.
The House probe on corruption in the ERC stemmed from a resolution for an inquiry in aid of legislation filed by Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera Dy.
READ: Solon calls for probe on ERC exec’s suicide linked to corruption
In his suicide note, Villa as Bids and Awards Committee chair pointed at the alleged rigged selection system for contracts in the ERC at the helm of Salazar.
“My greatest fear in the bids and awards committee is the AVP by Luis Morelos which the chairman and CEO, Jose Vicente B. Salazar, chose through a rigged selection system. That will be a criminal act,” Villa wrote.
“I have fears about my BAC (bids and awards committee) work… Our mistakes may bring on [Commission on Audit] observations and disallowances. Those may affect me financially,” Villa added.
READ: Palace to probe ERC exec’s death
Villa’s sister earlier said her brother was “pressured to approve contracts for procurements and hiring consultants without proper bidding and procedure as bids and awards committee chairman.”
READ: Duterte: I heard of ERC corruption even before Villa’s suicide | ERC officials defy Duterte, won’t resign
President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Salazar and other ERC officials to resign amid alleged rampant corruption in the commission and even called on Congress to dissolve or reorganize the ERC as the state power regulator.
Salazar has sought an audience with the President to clarify the issue and vowed to take “appropriate actions that would protect the organization.” But Salazar and other ERC officials refused to heed the President’s orders for them to resign.