(Photo grabbed from iOrbit News)
MABALACAT CITY – Plunder charges against this city’s former mayor Marino “Boking” Morales and other respondents were filed Tuesday before the Ombudsman by two officers of the Mabalacat City Traffic Enforcement Group (MCTEG) on the case of ghost projects costing P92 million.
City administrator Emmanuel Ignacio, legal counsel of the complainants, said in an interview with Punto that the criminal case was based on findings of a probe he headed last year indicating that some P92 million worth of infrastructure projects reported by the Morales administration were actually projects funded and done by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
He said the case was filed by MCTEG personnel as taxpayers. He did not name the complainants but said he would furnish Punto with copy of the complaint.
Morales is now running for vice mayor here, with current Vice Mayor Christian Halili as his mayoral tandem.
In August last year, COA directed Morales, some city employees and a private contractor to refund some P92 million allegedly spent on non-existent projects.
COA gave six months within which to return the amount or file an appeal. The respondents reportedly opted to file an appeal even as the sixmonth period is about to expire.
Ignacio clarified, however, that the COA case was civil in nature and aimed only at returning the P92 million to government coffers.
“The criminal case is in our hands as taxpayers and that is what we have filed before the Ombudsman,” he added. “The criminal aspect of the case has been in our hands all along but we filed it only now,” he noted.
The COA said the money spent for the slope protection works along Sapang Balen and Quitangil Creek, in Mabalacat City, Pampanga, violated procurement rules and disallowed P92,525,687.52 paid to A. L. Dare Construction.
The projects seemed to be ghost projects, the agency said in its notice of disallowance issued to Morales and construction firm.
The COA noted assorted photographs submitted as evidence of the P92 million spent of the projects by the contractor “were taken from projects actually undertaken by the DPWH Pampanga 3rd Engineering District.”
The projects covered “slope protection works of the government along Sapang Balen Creek and Quitangil Creek in Mabalacat City in CY 2016.”
COA noted that the contractor under Morales claimed to have spent on four projects namely the first Phase Sapang Balen Creek project costing P22,443,500; the last phase of Sapang Balen Creek project costing P39,985,500; the first phase of the Quitangil Creek project costing P17,382,700; and the last phase of the Quitangil Creek project costing P18,885,000.
But COA said these projects “were duplication of DPWH projects of Pampanga’s 3rd Engineering District.”
The COA directive was addressed not only to Morales, but also to Bernardo B. Delos Reyes, former Bids and Award Committee (BAC) chairperson and former city engineer Ramil L. Canlapan, BAC vice chairperson.
COA pointed out other irregularities in the procurement process of the former mayor, including the “ineligibility of the lone bidder and eventual contract awardee for non-compliance with various government requirements, such as complete set of approved plans, technical specifications, bill of quantities by the bidder, and BAC resolution recommending the award.” It noted “irregularities in the conduct of bidding and in the bidding documents.”
“These are all mandatory requisites and requirements under Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act,” COA said.
