FIVE former officials of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC now DOTr) and a private businessman were convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan over the anomalous procurement of mobile phones for P5.96 million in 2005.
In a 172-page decision issued June 7, 2024, the anti-graft court’s Third Division found former DOTC directors Elmer Soneja, Venancio Santidad, Ildefonso Patdu Jr., and Rebecca Cacatian; DOTC Legal Officer Geronimo Quintos; and businessman Domingo Samuel Jonathan Ng guilty of one count of violation of Section 3 (e) of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The DOTC officials were members of the agency’s Bids and Awards Committee that approved the purchase despite red flags of irregularities.
Together with Ng, they were all sentenced to six to 10 years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification for holding public office.
Their co-defendants, Marcelo Desiderio Jr. and Antonio Cruz, were acquitted due to insufficiency of evidence to prove their guilt.
The court likewise acquitted all the defendants in a separate charge of malversation of public funds on the ground that the evidence presented by the prosecution fell short of the required proof beyond reasonable doubt.
Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang penned the ruling, with Associate Justices Bernelito R. Fernandez and Ronald B. Moreno concurring.
Former Iloilo Rep. Judy Syjuco, who was also a co-accused in both cases, had earlier entered into a plea bargain deal with the Office of the Ombudsman where she was allowed to plead guilty to lesser offenses of Frauds Against Public Treasury and Failure of Accountable Officer to Render Accounts.
The former lawmaker, widow of the late TESDA Secretary August Syjuco, did not serve time behind bars after paying P5,964,859.09 to the court on September 8, 2022, representing the full contract cost for the acquisition of mobile phone units.
Private defendant Ng also tried to secure a similar deal but was turned down by both the court and the prosecution.
The case, filed in 2016, involved allegations of fraudulent disbursement of Rep. Syjuco’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or congressional pork barrel allocations.
State auditors Elinore Lavilla, Abdel Reza Sadala, and Ma. Sandra Pormilos, in reviewing the transaction, found that the purchase of 1,582 units of Nokia 1100 phones violated procurement rules and regulations since the chosen supplier, West Island Beverages Distributor, was not an authorized dealer of mobile phones but only of pre-paid cards.
Likewise, they reported that the transaction was a “ghost” procurement based on the disclosure of former Sta. Barbara, Iloilo mayor Isabelo Maquino and municipal accountant Noel Failanza that the municipality did not receive phones.
All three auditors also testified for the prosecution during the trial at the Sandiganbayan.
In convicting the accused, the Sandiganbayan noted that the transaction did not undergo the required public bidding; was not included in the DOTC’s Annual Procurement Plan; and was not posted on the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) all in violation of the provisions of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Law.
“In sum, the Court finds accused BAC members Santidad, Quintos, Patdu, Cacatian and Soneja’s brazen disregard of the explicit provisions of the procurement law …and obliviousness to patent irregularities surrounding the subject procurement resulted in the illegal award of the subject contract to accused Ng,” the anti-graft court said.
