(Eagle News) — The Office of the Ombudsman has found probable cause to indict former Transportation Secretary Emilio Abaya and 16 others over the P4.2-billion Metro Rail Transit maintenance contract.
Apart from Abaya, facing charges for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the awarding of the contract to Busan Universal Rail Inc. were then-Transportation Undersecretaries Edwin Lopez, Rene Limcaoco, and Catherine Jennifer Gonzales; former MRT3 general manager Roman Buenafe; former Assistant Secretary Camille Alcaraz; MRT3 Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) vice chair Ofelia Astrera, lawyer Charissa Eloisa Opulencia, Engineering Division chief Oscar Bongon, and Engineer Jose Rodante Sabayle.
Private respondents Eldonn Ferdinand Uy of Edison Development and Construction, Elizabeth Velasco of Tramat Mercantile Incorporated, Belinda Tan of TMI Corporation Inc., Brian Velasco of Castan Corporation, and Antonio Borromeo, Jun Ho Hwang and Elpidio Uy of Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) were also included in the indictment.
According to the Ombudsman, its special panel of investigators found that the respondents “extended unwarranted benefits, advantage and preference to the contractor when it awarded the project to Busan JV, an ineligible and unqualified entity.”
For one, the Ombudsman said Busan JV was given the contract even if it was found the potential JV partners did not enter into a Joint Venture Agreement as required by the rules.
The panel, the Ombudsman said, also “found irregularity in the award when the Busan JV was allowed to simply submit a Certificate of Registration of BURI as a Special Purpose Company (SPC) instead of a valid JVA. ”
“The action becomes even more suspect as it was respondent Alcaraz who wrote the Securities and Exchange Commission to facilitate the registration of Busan JV as an SPC,” the Ombudsman said, noting that Alcatraz was at that time a a DOTr official and the chair of the MRT BAC.
According to the Ombudsman, in sum, the “Busan JV was not technically, legally and financially capable to undertake the MRT3 long-term maintenance contract.”
“Despite its being unqualified, the contract was still awarded to it by the DOTr, in violation of Section 53 of the RIRR of R.A. No. 9184, which requires that in negotiated procurement, the procuring entity should negotiate with a technically, legally and financially capable supplier, contractor or consultant,” the Ombudsman said.
Abaya in particular, it said, “deliberately ignored applicable laws, rules and regulations, and standard operating procedures, falling short of or disregarding the required competence expected of him in the performance of his official functions” when he “allow(ed) the award of the contract” despite the “glaring irregularities.”
“Occupying an executive position, Abaya is required to exercise diligence in the highest degree in the performance of his duties. There is a given authority and responsibility to Abaya as DOTr Secretary to regulate the acts of the DOTr officials responsible for the procurement of the MRT3 long-term maintenance contract and he cannot simply evade such responsibility by invoking reliance on his subordinates, especially considering that the subject contract is one with a scope and magnitude affecting a big portion of the commuting public in Metro Manila, with an accompanying financial impact on the coffers of the government amounting to more than P4billion,” the Ombudsman said.
