Commission on Audit (COA) has recommended the filing of graft and criminal charges against former Palawan Gov. Joel T. Reyes and members of the provincial bids and awards committee under his administration for alleged irregularities in the use of nearly P3 billion in Malampaya funds.
The report by a special COA audit team obtained on Tuesday by the Inquirer detailed alleged anomalies by the Reyes administration, indicating that it had favored certain private contractors to corner over 200 infrastructure projects funded by Malampaya royalty.
The projects ranged from day care centers, that cost a total of P30 million, to a reclamation project that cost over P400 million.
The Reyes administration got hold of the huge Malampaya money following an interim agreement in 2008 between Malacañang and the Palawan government to spend a portion of royalty from the Malampaya natural gas field being claimed by Palawan. The province’s claim remained pending at the Supreme Court.
The audit was conducted by a COA team between August 2009 to December 2009. An exit conference, which led to the finalization of its report, was held on Feb. 9, 2011.
The report has yet to be released to the public, and most of the parties indicted in the report claimed they have not yet been furnished a final copy when contacted by the Inquirer. Reyes could not be reached for comment.
Incumbent Gov. Abraham Kahlil Mitra declined to comment substantially on the report, despite acknowledging he had read it already.
“I understand they (indicted parties) were intending to file a motion for reconsideration on the findings,” Mitra said by phone on Tuesday.
Reyes has faded from public view after losing a bid to run for congressman in southern Palawan in 2010. He was implicated later as the alleged mastermind in the January 2011 murder of broadcaster Dr. Gerry Ortega, who had harped on alleged corruption under Reyes and other local government officials using Malampaya funds before he was murdered. Reyes had vehemently denied involvement in Ortega’s killing.
COA blasted Reyes and his PBAC for awarding a total of 217 Malampaya projects costing P1.7 billion without following procedures that would have opened the bidding to other contractors.
The COA report noted, for example, that in 65 of these projects, there was only one bidder. In 139 projects, there were only two bidders, while the remaining 13 projects went ahead without even an abstract of bids.
Apart from Reyes, recommended charged were Samuel Madamba, Romeo Seratubias, Ferdinand Dilig, Teofilo Palanca Jr., Charlie Factor, Rolando Bonoan Jr. and Luis Marcaida II. All were members of Reyes’ PBAC, with some remaining in their posts under the Mitra administration.
The report also noted the repeated instances of the province awarding contracts to private contractors who had already previously won contracts.