State opposes Ejercito bid to junk case

Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito. LYN RILLON/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

State prosecutors have opposed suspended Sen. JV Ejercito’s to have his graft case dismissed on the grounds of lack of evidence.

The Office of the Ombudsman’s Special Prosecutor Office presented in a 17-page opposition the “overwhelming evidence and testimonies” showing Ejercito guilty of graft when he approved the purchase of high-powered firearms using the calamity funds of San Juan City when he was its mayor in 2008.

Ejercito—along with bids and awards committee members Ranulfo Dacalos, Rosalinda Estrella Marasigan, Romualdo de los Santos, Lorenza Catalan Ching and Danilo Salcedo Mercado—allegedly conducted a “sham” bidding that was “tailor-fit to favor the lone supplier,” HK Tactical Defense System Inc., the opposition said.

The prosecutors cited various irregularities in the bidding process, saying the accused officials had pre-selected a brand name before the bidding began, violating Section 18, Article VI of the Government Procurement Reform Act. The bid invitation already allegedly specified Daewoo firearms Models K2 and K1.

Prosecutors said HKDTSI knew of the projects’ particulars before the bid invitation was published on April 14, 2008. This was shown by the bidding documents submitted by the supplier all dated March 17.

Before winner known

Most of the documents allegedly showed the project reference or contract information numbers even before HKDTSI was announced as the winning bidder on May 20.

The BAC even issued HKDTSI a certificate of eligibility to bid on April 25, 2008, a day before the start of the scheduled checking of bidders’ eligibility, the opposition read.

The opposition also noted that Ejercito signed the purchase request and order both dated May 22, 2008, when purchase orders are issued after the request is first made.

It scored Ejercito’s “clear effort to save his skin” when his demurrer “deflected the blame” to either the BAC or the city council that crafted the ordinance that he signed to allow the procurement.

Meanwhile, Ejercito’s petition to sought the Sandiganbayan’s permission to travel to Hong Kong from Oct. 14 to 16 “for a family vacation” with wife Maria Hyacinth and son Julio Jose.

When the Inquirer broke the news on Twitter on Thursday morning, Ejercito was prompted to reply that his legal team apparently forgot to state in his two-page motion on Tuesday that he was accompanying his wife as she processes her retirement benefits.

“My legal team forgot to indicate the trip was to accompany my wife to fix her retirement papers at Cathay Pacific,” he said via his Twitter account, @jvejercito.