FIVE members of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region 6 have been cleared by the Commission on Audit of any liability in connection with a P43.97 million road project in Iloilo City in 2008.
COA Chair Michael G. Aguinaldo and Commissioner Roland C. Pondoc granted the motion for reconsideration filed by project manager Berna Coca and engineers Luvisminda Narciso, Danilo Peroy, Marilyn Celiz, and Fernando Tuares, DPWH-Region 6 BAC members, to lift the notice of disallowance on the payment to the contractor.
All five were convicted in July 2019 by the Sandiganbayan of graft and sentenced six to eight years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from public office for the same contract, the asphalt overlay of the Iloilo-Jaro Diversion Road.
In its decision however, the COA Commission Proper said that irregularities in the procurement process and the lack of appropriation for the project prior to the release of the notice of award were beyond the control of the contractor, who was able to complete the project as attested by the team of auditors.
“While there were several irregularities in the procurement process, the contractor had no involvement thereon as it only rendered its services to DPWH RO No. VI. It is only fair that the contractor be paid for the services it had rendered. Thus, the ND should be lifted. Consequently, Movants Peroy, Tuares, Narciso, Celiz, and Coca are relieved from liability for the disallowance,” the commission declared.
Among the irregularities cited in both the 2021 COA ruling and the 2019 Sandiganbayan decision were the absence of public bidding, the unjustified resort of negotiated procurement, and the non-inclusion of the said roadworks under the Annual Procurement Plan in 2008 and 2009.
However, the COA noted that the project was on a major thoroughfare in downtown Iloilo City, connecting to the Iloilo Airport which clearly showed that the public had benefitted from its completion.
Regardless, it declared that the lifting of the disallowance had no bearing on the administrative and criminal cases against all DPWH officials responsible for the transaction.
