MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday ordered the suspension of top officials of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) after finding probable cause to file graft charges against them.
LRTA former Administrator Melquiades Robles, Federico Canar Jr., Dennis Francisco, Evelyn Macalino, Elmo Stephen Triste, Eduardo Abiva, Nicholas Ombao, Roger Vaño, Maynard Tolosa and Juliet Labisto are facing indictment before the Sandiganbayan.
The Office of the Ombudsman said that the LRTA officials violated Section 2(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the anomalous implementation of maintenance and janitorial contracts.
Service providers Lilia Diaz and Dennis Acorda of the joint venture between COMM Builders and Technology Philippines Corporation, PMP Incorporated and Gradski Soabracaj GRAS are also facing graft charges.
Canar, Francisco, Triste, Macalino, Liscano, Abiva, Ombao, Vaño, Tolosa and Labisto were also found guilty of misconduct and were suspended for six months. The suspension will be convertible to a fine worth of six month's salary in case of separation from service.
Investigation showed that in January 2009, the LRTA entered into a contract with the joint venture for the maintenance of the trains, rails and depot facilities of the LRT Line 1.
The joint venture was supposed to depoy at least 793 workers and janitors in LRT line stations but the Field Investigation Office found that only 209 personnel were deployed.
A total of P400.6 million was paid to the joint venture but "the disbursement vouchers of the series of monthly transactions had been processed without payrolls."
The maintenance and janitorial contracts with the joint venture were extended until July 2013.
"The Joint Venture is not justified to deviate from its minimum commitment... it is rather unfortunate that some public respondents aided the contractor in its desire to reduce its committed number of janitorial workforce," the Office of the Ombudsman said in a joint resolution.
The joint resolution added that the LRTA officials cannot claim that they have performed their duty regularly as they have given in to the demands of a private contractor.
"Instead of pushing for the implementation of the awarded contract, the respondents agreed to the reduction of janitorial manpower," Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said.
Last August 2015, the LRTA was also accused of favoring a new maintenance service provider for the LRT Line 2.
The National Coalition of Filipino Consumers filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman. The LRTA, however, denied the accusations of irregularity in the bidding process for the maintenance contract.