Ex-Iloilo town mayor, 5 others acquitted of graft 

MANILA, Philippines – The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Santa Barbara, Iloilo mayor Isabelo Maquino and five others of graft in relation to an alleged anomalous bidding of public works contracts in her town.

The others who were acquitted are Municipal Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members Lyndofer Beup, Noel Jaspe, and Negenia Araneta; and private defendants Raymund Tabuga of Topmost Development and Marketing Corporation (TMDC) and Felix Gurrea of F. Gurrea Construction Incorporated (FGCI).

In its decision issued on November 15, the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division said that the contractors did not withdraw their bids to give way to the competitor, contrary to the interpretation of the prosecution. As such, the cases filed against the contractors and the local government officials were defective.

In 2017, the Office of the Ombudsman filed charges of violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Government Procurement Reform Act against the former mayor, members of the BAC, and the two contractors.

The local officials were accused of giving preference to TMCD and FGCI for several public works contracts in Santa Barbara. The case was anchored on the supposed withdrawal of one of the contractors to allow the other to win.

In supporting its argument, TMDC presented to the court its letter addressed to the BAC stating, “Please be informed that we are refraining from submitting our bid for the said project as our total cost exceeds the approved budget for the contract.”

FGCI, for its part, presented its letter where it wrote to the BAC, “We regret to inform you that we opt to forego our opportunity to bid for the abovementioned project cause our cost estimate goes beyond the approved budget.”

The Sandiganbayan sustained the defendants’ argument that since they used the terms “refrain” and “forego,” the bids were not submitted at all.

“As correctly argued by the defense, a withdrawal of bid means that bids were initially submitted and then subsequently withdrawn. Indeed, the word ‘withdraw’ means to take back or away; remove consideration or set outside a group,” the court said.

“Evidently, TDMC and FGCT’s letters were expressions of TDMC and FGCT’s intention not to participate in the bidding of certain projects, rather than withdrawals of bid,” it added.

The court also noted that no other firms submitted bids for the concerned projects and that since the winning bids fell within the approved contract budget, there was no overpayment or excessive cost estimate on the projects.

As such, the Sandiganbayan said, “it cannot be said that the Municipality of Santa Barbara, Iloilo suffered undue injury for having been deprived of the most advantageous terms for the projects. – Rappler.com