Duterte dared to file charges vs Sueno, Laviña

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines – President Duterte should file charges against the officials that he fired and accused of corruption, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano said yesterday.

Describing Duterte as “impulsive” in making decisions, Alejano said the President should have conducted a probe and filed the appropriate charges against the officials instead of reacting to whispers of his advisers.

Duterte had fired Ismael Sueno as interior secretary and Peter Laviña as head of the National Irrigation Administration, on allegations of corruption.

“The President wants to prove to the Filipino people that he is determined to stamp out corruption. But the present administration is also hiding some bad things, which people are not aware of,” Alejano said in a radio interview here.

Alejano noted the “factionalism” among presidential appointees.

“I suggest to President Duterte, that indeed if there are corruption, he should file charges against them,” Alejano said.

“If he is against corruption, President Duterte should also clean himself first, especially his questionable bank accounts, among others,” he added.

Alejano initiated an impeachment complaint against Duterte at the House of Representatives, accusing Duterte of betraying public trust, violating the Constitution and committing other high crimes by “failing to assert the country’s sovereignty over the Benham Rise and to protest China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea.”

Sueno had claimed the three interior undersecretaries had conspired and misled Duterte to dismiss him. Among them is Jesus Hinlo, a native of the province.

Hinlo, however, said the reason for Sueno’s dismissal involved the purchase of Rosenbauer fire trucks from Austria without bidding.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the recipient of the Rosenbauer fire trucks, however, justified the contract.

This was contained in a letter dated March 16 addressed to Hinlo from BFP chief Director Bobby Baruelo.

The STAR obtained a letter that was received by the office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary and office of the Assistant Secretary for Finance and Comptrollership on March 21. Sueno was fired on April 3.

Although Sueno expressed belief the President was fed wrong information, Duterte stressed this was not possible.

In his letter, Baruelo said the concessional credit agreement to finance the project was executed by the Philippine government through the Department of Finance with full power from the President and UniCredit Bank Austria on April 1, 2016, or during the previous administration.

On July 15, 2016, Baruelo said the President signed and issued a special authority to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, who in his letter dated Oct. 24, 2016, formally confirmed the validity of the concessional credit agreement with UniCredit Bank.

Baruelo apparently issued the letter in response to the inquiry of Hinlo.
“The supply contract between the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Rosenbauer International AG involving the delivery of 76 units of Rosenbauer fire trucks was signed on April 20, 2016, before the undersecretary’s assumption of office as DILG undersecretary for public safety, hence your non-partisan in the transaction,” Baruelo said in his letter.

“Contrary to the information given you (Hinlo), no Rosenbauer fire trucks have just arrived. We will be duly informed if and when to expect delivery thereof,” he added.
Baruelo further noted that records showed the project was duly approved by the technical board of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) Cabinet Committee and NEDA Board where Duterte is chairman.

“The budget cover was provided by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) which issued the corresponding budget strategy and forward obligation authority for the budget. Likewise, the loan was duly approved by the monetary board of the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) and the DOJ (Department of Justice),” Baruelo added.

Baruelo further noted the salient terms of the official development assistance financing for Austrian-assisted BFP capacity building project, which indicated that the loan proceeds were P1,229.62 million or P86 percent while grant for the Philippine government was P196.74 million or 14 percent or a total of P1,426.36 million.

Some quarters claimed the fire trucks were overpriced at P20 million each when there are fire trucks locally available at P7 million only.

He said the maturity of the loan is 23.5 years, including the eight-year grace period, thus present value per unit of fire truck was P3.88 million and not P20 million as alleged by some group. 

He said the project was exempted from the usual bidding requirements as it falls under the government-to-government transaction pursuant to the implementing rules and regulations of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

“Insofar as the recipient cities/towns are concerned, please be informed that these were selected in accordance with BFP criteria for prioritization duly approved by ICC and NEDA Board,” Baruelo added. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe