Sandiganbayan acquits Ex-Zamboanga del Sur governor

THE Philippines’ anti-graft court has acquitted ex-Zamboanga del Sur Governor Aurora E. Cerilles and nine other provincial officials accused of corruption for allegedly conspiring with a private entity to bag a procurement deal, citing lack of evidence against them.

In a 68-page decision released on Wednesday, the Sandiganbayan Second Division ruled that state prosecutors failed to establish an alleged conspiracy between officials and businessmen to defraud the government through the purchase of P8.5 million worth of furniture and equipment in 2009, done through unfavorable procurement processes.

“It was not able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the violation of procurement laws caused undue injury to any party, including the government, or gave any private party unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference,” part of the decision penned by Associate Justice Geraldine Faith A. Econg read.

While state prosecutors failed to establish “undue damage” or collusion among the accused, the court found that public officials skirted a procurement law by illegally splitting the contracts of the purchased materials, allowing them to directly shop for sought equipment without bidding.

Government offices are allowed to make direct purchases of “regular office supplies” without undergoing public bidding, granted the amount does not exceed P500,000, the decision cited.

“The subject items in the said documents… are identical… but they are broken into quantities or split into different transactions,” the Sandiganbayan said. “Clearly, there was splitting of contracts… which is expressly prohibited by the law.” — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio