Mayor, 7 others sacked over heavy equipment deals

Oscar Moreno

The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno and seven procurement officials of Misamis Oriental province over the misuse of P1.41 million paid to lease heavy equipment without public bidding.

Moreno and provincial bids and awards committee (BAC) members Patrick Gabutina, Elsie Lopoy, Rolando Pacuribot, Divina Bade, Cancio Guibone, Leemar Tinagan and Elmer Wabe, were found guilty of administrative offenses of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

This warranted their dismissal and perpetual disqualification from public office, as well as forfeiture of their retirement benefits.

As for the criminal aspect of the case, the Ombudsman also found probable cause to indict the eight officials for violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The provision prohibits officials from causing undue injury to the government and giving unwarranted benefits to private parties.

The assailed leases of fuel tankers, trailer trucks and a road roller covered 2007 and from 2011 to 2012, when Moreno was serving as governor of Misamis Oriental. A total of P1,414,179.40 was shelled out.

Instead of conducting public bidding for the lease contracts, the provincial government resorted to the method of shopping.

The Ombudsman said this method was meant for “readily available off-the-shelf goods or ordinary/regular office equipment to be procured directly from suppliers of known qualifications.”

In this case, the respondents failed to show a BAC resolution or the minutes of its meeting to justify why they resorted to shopping for the lease of heavy equipment. Due to these alleged irregularities, the Commission on Audit (COA) issued notices of disallowance on the lease payments.

In their defense, Moreno and the other respondents argued that the Ombudsman should not hold them liable criminally and administratively because their appeals were pending with the COA.

Moreno, in a statement released by the city information office, said: “Kalbaryo na sad ni, pero OK lang. Ako ni nga kalbaryo. Pasalamat lang gihapon ako nga dili kalbaryo sa katawhan. But I will deal with this. Ampo lang ta (This is another hurdle, but it’s OK. This is my problem. I’m just thankful that this is not a problem of the people. But I will deal with this. Let’s just pray).”