THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of multiple graft charges against two former top officials of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the foreign supplier of P2.1 billion Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) transceivers.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires approved the 25-page resolution for indictment last April 11, the same day that he approved the ruling in a separate administrative case ordering the dismissal from service of BFAR National Director Demosthenes Escoto for grave misconduct relative to the same procurement deal.
Aside from Escoto, also facing four counts of violations of RA 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, are former BFAR director and Agriculture Undersecretary for Fisheries Eduardo Gongona and Simon Tucker of SRT Marine Systems Solutions Ltd., the UK-based firm that won the supply contract.
Ombudsman investigators however cleared respondents DA Assistant Secretary Hansel Didulo and SRT Marine executive Richard Hurd of any liability citing absence of evidence to show that they had actively participated in the anomaly.
The cases stemmed from a complaint filed on March 1, 2022 by lawyer James Mier Victoriano.
Based on the recommendations of Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Cezar Tirol II, Escoto, Gongona and Tucker will be charged with two counts of violation of Section 3 €, one count of violation of Section 3 (g), and one count of violation of Section 3 (j) of RA 3019.
Section 3 (e) penalizes causing undue injury to the government, Section 3 (g) covers contracts or transactions that are deemed “grossly and manifestly disadvantageous” to the government, while Section 3 (j) prohibits the grant of a permit, license, or privilege to any party who is not qualified or not legally entitled to it.
Based on the complaint, former Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and French Ambassador to the Philippines Therry Mathou signed a Financial Protocol on December 18, 2015 wherein France granted a loan of €28.52 million (euros) to the Philippines to implement the DA-BFAR’s Integrated Marine Environment Monitoring System Project Phase I (PHILO Project).
The project was supposed to “enhance the (Philippine) government’s capability to safeguard and monitor the country’s marine resources and to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities.”
Under the agreement, the loan will be paid in 30 years at an interest rate of 0.115 percent per year subject to a condition that the supplier of the equipment must be a French company.
During a bidding in December 2017, two French firms participated, namely the Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS) and SRT-France, a subsidiary of SRT-United Kingdom that was incorporated in France on November 15, 2017.
The BFAR’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) disqualified CLS and the contract was awarded to SRT-France.
However, the Economic Department of the French Embassy in the Philippines declared SRT-France unqualified under the terms of the Financial Protocol due to lack of record of any manufacturing or engineering facilities in France.
While the French government notified the Philippines that it is still willing to discuss alternatives, the DA-BFAR instead recommended the closure of the French loan, to source the project funding from foreign assistance to local, and increasing the budget from P1.676 billion to P2.099 billion.
The contract was eventually awarded to SRT-UK .
“Escoto and Gongona, while in the exercise of their official functions as chairman of the BAC, and as head of the procuring entity, respectively, and in conspiracy with Tucker, clearly gave unwarranted benefit or advantage to SRT-France and SRT-UK,” the Ombudsman said.
Even if the contract awarded to SRT-France was eventually recalled, the investigators said unwarranted benefit was already given to it when the DA-BFAR failed to disqualify the firm “despite its ineligibility.”
It added that the other provisions of RA 3019 prohibiting other criminal acts may still apply since giving unwarranted benefit to a party is an element separate from causing undue injury to the government.
“Escoto, Gongona, and Tucker had apparently schemed to ultimately award a contract to SRT-UK that is disadvantageous to the government. The series of events that came prior to the award are circumstantial evidence proving that an irregularity had been committed and they are probably guilty thereof,” the Ombudsman said.
