THE Supreme Court has affirmed a Sandiganbayan decision convicting two former officials of the Philippine Aerospace Development Corporation (PADC), a government-owned and controlled corporation, for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
In an 18-page decision promulgated last June 27, the SC’s Second Division upheld the conviction of Danilo Crisologo and Robert Manlavi for underselling aircraft parts that led to a P6 million loss for the government.
The two were earlier sentenced by the anti-graft court to six to 10 years imprisonment and were perpetually disqualified from public office.
The PADC is tasked to establish a reliable aviation and aerospace industry and sell all forms of aircraft and aviation and aerospace devices, equipment, and contraptions.
Court records showed that in 2006, the PADC pricing committee issued a pricing policy imposing a 30 percent mark-up on the cost of local aircraft parts.
The following year, Manlavi, as temporary senior vice president of PADC, issued a memorandum essentially prescribing reduced selling prices for aircraft parts.
The 2007 memorandum, while approved by Crisologo as PADC president, was not authorized by the PADC’s pricing committee nor its Board of Directors.
In 2008, PADC entered into seven transactions with Wingtips Part Corp. for the sale of aircraft parts through a negotiated sale, instead of public bidding as required for disposal of public property.
In an investigation in 2009, the Commission on Audit found that the aircraft parts were sold below PADC’s pricing policy and without expert appraisal on the market value of the items.
In affirming the Sandiganbayan’s ruling, the SC said all the elements of graft were present and that Crisologo and Manlavi committed gross negligence in the performance of their duties as PADC officials.
“The government was unduly injured by Crisologo and Manlavi’s reduction of the selling prices when the government only got P849,510.22 when it could have earned P7,489,86.50,” the SC ruling penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier said.
