THE Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), announced the filing before the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice of graft and criminal charges against 8 government officials from the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for “anomalies” attending the procurement of LRTA equipment and supplies totaling some P170 million.
In a social media post and as reported by the government-owned, PTV-4 on June 26, 2021, PACC chair, Greco Belgica said that aside from the 8 government officials, also charged were 3 private contractors who allegedly colluded with the suspects.
Belgica named the accused as:
LRTA project implementing officer, Engr. Fernando Quimbao, LRTA rehabilitation project engineer, Julito Bernales, LRTA senior engineer Rommel Corea, LRTA division engineer Cesar Legaspi and, LRTA senior engineer Robert Ruiz.
On the side of the DBM, charged were: DBM Procurement Service (DBM-PS) inspector Noralyn Salvador and Roger Ravelo and, DBM-PS Inspection Division Officer-In-Charge Jorge Mendoza III.
The private contractors charged were: Kempal Construction and Supply, Maan Construction and, IFE Elevator, Inc.
Belgica said the accused conspired with one another to defraud the government by approving below standard equipment and supplies and the submission of fake bid documents.
He added the incident covers the period from 2016 to 2018 but the information on the details of the shenanigans only recently came to the attention of the PACC.
Belgica said that aside from violation of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, cases for grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and estafa thru falsification of public documents were also brought against the suspects.
If upheld by the OMB, all the named government officials are liable to be removed from government and perpetually disallowed to hold any public office in the future.
Belgica said among the anomalies they discovered involved the P25.8 million purchase by the LRTA of rolling stock diagnostic tools and equipment; P6.5 million, re-railing equipment while the biggest amount involved the P138 million conveyance system project where over P39 million was purportedly spent for the escalator installed at the LRTA Claro M. Recto Station.
The LRTA is a government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) under the Department fo Transportation (DOTr).
It was established by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos in 1974 primarily to operate and manage the LRT-1, the first elevated mass transport system in the country.