Ex-LRTA chief, 12 others post bail

MANILA, Philippines -  A day after the Sandiganbayan ordered his arrest, former Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) administrator Melquiades Robles appeared before the court’s Fifth Division yesterday to post bail for a graft case over the alleged anomalies in a janitorial service deal in 2009.

Arriving with his lawyer, Robles went straight to the Fifth Division’s Office of the Clerk of Court to fill in several court documents and to pay P30,000 bail bond for his provisional liberty.

Robles immediately left the Sandiganbayan building after posting bail.

Meanwhile, 12 other respondents in the case each posted P30,00 bail on Thursday and yesterday after the court ordered their arrest.

Those who posted bail yesterday were nine former LRTA officials: Federico Canar Jr., department manager; Dennis Francisco, engineer; Evelyn Macalino, accounting division manager; Elmo Stephen Triste, administrative department manager; Eduardo Abiva, Bids and Awards Committee member; Nicholas Ombao, department manager; Roger Vaño, procurement services chief; Maynard Tolosa, division manager; and Juliet Labisto, human resource management officer.

Private respondent Dennis Acorda of the joint venture of COMM Builders and Technology Philippines Corp., PMP Inc. and Gradski Soabracaj GRAS also posted bail yesterday.

Those who posted bail on Thursday were former LRTA bids and awards committee chair Marilou Liscano and private respondent Lilia Diaz, also of the COMM Builders joint venture.

In a Feb. 27 resolution released Thursday, the Fifth Division ordered the respondents’ arrest after it found sufficient grounds to try them for graft.

The Office of the Ombudsman, in a case filed last month, said the LRTA paid P3.37 million per month for the services of 321 janitors and maintenance workers but only 219 personnel were actually deployed.

The contract started in 2009 and was extended until July 2013.

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