Caloocan ‘war’ heats up as Erice files another case vs Echiverri
Caloocan Vice Mayor Edgar Erice filed another criminal case on Monday against Mayor Enrico Echiverri, this time for graft and plunder.
In a complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, Erice sued the mayor and other city officials in connection with an allegedly anomalous five-year contract they signed with South Movers Industrial Corp. starting in 2005.
According to Erice, South Movers was paid nearly P416 million to deliver water to areas in Caloocan City, which were already being served by Maynilad.
The other respondents in the complaint were Alfonso Sta. Maria, officer in charge of the city’s Environmental Sanitation Services; Edna Centeno, city accountant; Russel Ramirez, city administration and chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC); Caroliza de los Santos, BAC vice chairperson; and BAC members Jesusa Garcia, Rolando Eduria and Kristine Abustan.
Also named in the complaint were South Movers officials Marian Azares, Marilyn Lapitan, Jan Gabriel dela Cruz, Jerry Ross Cheng and Leo Cris Rojo.
According to Erice, the company received payments amounting to P415.996 million for “unnecessary” water services under a memorandum of agreement (MOA) it signed with the city government.
“[Ensuring a] supply of water is supposed to be Maynilad’s job. We already have a concessionaire, what is the MOA for?” Erice said.
Erice added that the deal [was not covered by] “important documents” nor was it approved by the city council.
“…From November 1, 2004, to present, there is no contract for water services ratified by the city council in accordance with… the Local Government Code of 1991, but still the city government [has been] regularly paying South Movers millions [of pesos in] taxpayers’ money for supposed water services,” Erice said.
According to him, a check with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that the company had only a capitalization of P5 million, a far cry from the P101 million it received as annual payment from the city government.
Erice also expressed doubt over the existence of South Movers as he said that no company with that name was found at the office address listed down on the firm’s general information sheet filed with SEC.
“We have been trying to contact the owner of the company but to no avail,” Erice told the Inquirer.
Sought for comment, Echiverri challenged the vice mayor to file charges against him.
Echiverri said in a phone interview that for as long as a company has a certification of registration, it could always do business in Caloocan City.
Echiverri added that the city government’s signing of a MOA with any company was not so much dependent on the latter’s capitalization but on its capacity to perform and do its job.
“The company is required to pay at least five percent of the contract as performance bond. This is to ensure that it complies with the requirements of what it has to do,” he said.
On charges that the company appeared to be nonexistent, Echiverri said that South Movers must have moved to another office.
Earlier, Erice sued Echiverri for his alleged failure to remit the city government employees’ contributions to the Government Service Insurance System.
This led to the Ombudsman’s issuance of a suspension order against the mayor although the Court of Appeals stopped the implementation of the order.
Erice, meanwhile, brushed aside accusations that he had a personal vendetta against Echiverri and said that he had documents to back up his complaints.
