Negros Occ. vice mayor indicted over anomalous grain dryer repair

The Office of the Ombudsman has indicted a former mayor, now vice mayor of Valladolid, Negros Occidental as well as eight others over an anomalous procurement for the repair of grain dryers in 2008.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Ombudsman found probable cause to charge before the Sandiganbayan former mayor Romel Yogore, municipal agricultural officer Giovanni Robles, and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members Joseph Alfonso Manayon, Ernesto Genobis, Daisy Galve, Cherryl Aguirre, Merlene Magbanua, and Ramonito Amazona for graft or violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The Ombudsman also indicted Romeo Tanalgo of FranMar Agro-Industrial Sales.

The Ombudsman said Yogore and the BAC contracted the services of Franmar Agro Industrial Sales for the repair of the grain dryers without conducting any public bidding.

Yogore is now a vice mayor of Valladolid. He was recently served his suspension order.

The respondents contracted the services of Franmar amounting to P698,000 through the alternative method of shopping.

An in-depth fact-finding investigation by the Ombudsman Regional Office in Iloilo City found out that the Sanggunian Bayan in Sept. 2008 approved the project for the rehabilitation of the Municipal Level Grain Center and the repair of two mechanical grain dryers.

The Sanggunian appropriated P1 million for the agricultural projects.

The Ombudsman said public bidding is an established rule for government transactions, and shopping may only be resorted to for projects involving “readily available off-the-shelf goods or ordinary/regular office equipment to be procured directly from suppliers of known qualifications.”

“It is an established public policy, as well as statutory mandate, that all government procurement shall be done through competitive public bidding. Alternative methods shall be resorted to only in the highly exceptional cases provided under the law,” the Ombudsman said.

The Ombudsman added that Franmar as an exclusive distributor of the mechanical dryers was not a condition to resort to shopping.

“The condition of exclusivity of the source is applicable only in Direct Contracting,” the Ombudsman said.

The respondents also failed to present a BAC resolution to justify shopping as a mode of procurement.

Franmar also turned out to be a mere sub-dealer of the brand of dryers, the Ombudsman said.

The Ombudsman had also dismissed the officials after they were found guilty for the administrative offense of Grave Misconduct.

The dismissal order carries the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, cancellation of eligibility and forfeiture of retirement benefits.  In case of separation from the service, the penalty is convertible to a fine equivalent to one year’s salary.

Under Section 3(e), Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act prohibits public officials from causing any undue injury to any party, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence. JE