By Bohol Chronicle
Gov. Erico Aumentado and members of the provincial government bidding body are facing serious charges in the
Ombudsman for heavy equipment purchase anomalies, including an alleged overprice, involving P165.564 million.
Part of the corruption was a huge allocation of P158.984 million for bulldozers, graders, vibratory compactor,excavators, loaders and dump trucks when the sum of the lowest bids for the different units only cost P129.542 million, according to the formal complaint filed by Rep. Roberto Cajes.
The instant case includes the separate purchase of a backhoe which was overpriced by more than P3 million. This transaction was done in 2006. The above-mentioned several equipment were subjected to bidding in 2009.
Cajes charged Aumentado, lawyer Handel Lagunay who is the chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), his vice chairman Provincial Engr. Edwin Vallejos, and BAC regular members Laura Boloyos and Felix Mejorada.
The Second District congressman asked the Ombudsman to suspend Aumentado and all other respondents considering their respective positions and the gravity of the charges.
Copy of the charge sheet reached the Chronicle yesterday. Efforts to contact Gov. Aumentado proved futile until newstime.
Subject to pertinent election laws, the preventive suspension will prevent the respondents from devising ways and means of suppressing the records relative to the matters, which are under their direct control and custody.
This is strictly in the interest of justice and fairness, Cajes asserted in his complaint, which specifically cited violations to Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019, Fraud Against the Public Treasury under Article 213 (1) of the Revised Penal Code and violations to RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
Cajes' first cause of action involves the purchase of one backhoe or hydraulic excavator from the Cebu-based Civic Merchandising, Inc. (CMI) which was overpriced by P3.069 million.
CMI was the only bidder-supplier. Until the contract awarding, the same was the lone supplier to participate in the entire bidding process.
Section 36 of RA 9184 states that a single calculated/rated and responsive bid can be considered for award. But it also mandates that in all instances, the procuring entity, in this case the provincial government, shall ensure that the single calculated/rated and responsive bid reflects the most advantageous prevailing price for the government.
No action, however, was taken by the BAC members and other concerned capitol officials under Aumentado, to include the conduct of even a cursory canvass of the prices of backhoes of the same class or category in order to determine the prevailing market price, at the very least.
Cajes asserted this because a CMI salesman had in fact said that a Volvo EC210BLC backhoe with same specifications as that of the one subject of the bid was only worth P6.2 million, plus 10% rebate if paid in cash or a net cash price of P5.580 million.
On the other hand, the cost of a breaker, an attachment to the backhoe, was only between P850,000 and P1 million. In sum, the net cash price of a complete backhoe would have only been P6.580 million.
Meanwhile, the province opened a letter of credit (LC) in the Philippine National Bank (PNB) in Cebu for the purchase of a Volvo backhoe at over P9.649 million.
Cajes wondered why would the province pay more than P9.649 million for the backhoe which was supposed to cost only P6.680 million. "The P3,069,500 difference is a clear overprice. Where did the money go? Definitely not to charity."
Cajes asked that if there was no overprice, why did Aumentado promise to return the overprice amount.
In fact, subsequently, the supplier "voluntarily" donated P750,000 worth of goodies like rice and canned goods to the provincial government after the overprice was then exposed.
Aside from the "donations," CMI also returned to the province a total of P238,940 allegedly due to "miscomputation" in the backhoe price. "Was there really a miscomputation? Or was it just a scheme adapted to cover up the highly anomalous transaction," Cajes asked.
The congressman said the "clearly manipulated 'bidding' and the huge overprice constitute evident corrupt practices of PBAC and Aumentado," the latter as the approving authority.
There was a purposeful orchestration to defraud the government to its damage, injury and prejudice, Cajes assailed.
He also noted that the LC opened by the province in PNB-Cebu was denominated in US dollar when the quoted backhoe price was in peso.
The LC beneficiary was Sydex Limited of Kowloon, Hong Kong when the supplier was supposed to be the CMI in Cebu.
Cajes asked what had Sydex of Hong Kong to do with the purchase of just one backhoe.
A search on the Internet revealed that Sydex Limited located at the same address mentioned in the letter of credit is into shipment of tablewares, ceramics, stonewares and the like, not heavy equipment.
The issue of importation is another matter worth looking into. Aumentado asked Vice Gov. Julius Herrera for a Sangguniang Panlalawigan resolution authorizing the governor to open the letter of credit for backhoe purchase thru importation.
ANOTHER DEAL
In 2009, the province conducted another bidding, this time to buy two tracked excavators with breakers, two bulldozers, two payloaders, 10 six-wheeler dump trucks, four graders and four vibratory compactors.
Participating bidders included the RDAK, JVF, Camec JCB Corp. (CJC) and, again, CMI-Cebu.
Section 34 of RA 9184 provides that in all cases, the contract shall be awarded only to the lowest calculated responsive bid or highest rated responsive bid. This is to maximize government savings but which, Cajes said, was "far from the mind of PBAC and Gov. Aumentado."
RDAK bid the lowest for bulldozers and graders at a total of P70.260 million; CMI for vibratory compactors at P14.352 million; and CJC for excavators, loaders and dump trucks at P74.180 million. Their bids totaled to P129.542 million.
Instead of disbursing an amount equivalent to the lowest bids, the Approved Budget for the Contracts (ABC) for the equipment amounted to P158.984 million. The province would have saved more than P29.4 million.
Other than the highly anomalous biddings, Aumentado failed to act on the delay of RDAK to deliver two brand new payloaders under Purchase Order No. 221 also in 2009. The PO was signed by the governor himself.
The supplier ought to deliver the units within 90 days upon receipt of the PO. Otherwise, it could be held liable to pay a penalty of one-tenth (1/10) of one percent of the cost for every day of delay.
Up to this date, nothing has been delivered and yet Aumentado failed to do something about it. Cajes said this is a clear advantage of RDAK but to the detriment and due damage and injury to the Bohol government.
Cajes' complaint was duly certified, verified and subscribed. (Ven rebo Arigo)
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