Wanda Teo, husband face graft raps over 'anomalous' P300M Boracay sewage system deal

MANILA, Philippines — Two Boracay residents filed graft complaints against former Philippine Tourism Authority General Manager Mark Lapid, former Tourism Secretaries Wanda Teo and Mon Jimenez and other officials over the alleged “anomalous” multimillion-peso contract with Manila Water Company Inc. on the island.

Rod Padilla and Roberto Gelito filed their complaint-affidavit on Friday alleging that Teo, her husband Roberto Teo, who sits as a Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority’s board director member, and several other officials of TIEZA violated the anti-graft law.

Padilla and Gelito accused the officials of TIEZA—then called as Philippine Tourism Authority—of conspiring to approve the joint venture agreement with MWCI.

Aside from Lapid, Teo and Jimenez, others facing complaints are current Cabinet members such as Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and former executives of the Department of Tourism.

According to the complainants, TIEZA and MWCI entered into a deal believed to sustain the tourism growth in Boracay “for development, financing, design, engineering, construction, upgrade, testing, commissioning, operation, management and maintenance of the Boracay Waterworks and Sewerage Systems.”

The complainants said that MWCI submitted a proposal on July 2008 which was approved by TIEZA on November of the same year.

On April 14, 2009, the contract was awarded to MWCI as the board said that “there was allegedly no proposal from any private sector entity.” But the complainants said that the board did not publish an invitation for comparative proposals for private sector participants.

Padilla and Gelito said that “[TIEZA] board members and officers intentionally and haphazardly approved the Notice of Award to MWCI, in connivance with one another.”

LOOK: The graft complaint filed against ex-Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, husband Roberto Teo and other TIEZA officials.

Details here: https://t.co/CBkZiY2gia pic.twitter.com/UKwCyx32qe

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The contract also awarded 80 percent of the contract—amounting to P240 million—to MWCI, while TIEZA only received P60 million from the contract. The complainants said that this is “manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government.”

“Respondents, in connivance with one another, violated Section 3(e) of RA 3019 for giving MWCI unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference through manifest partiality when they rigged the process of [TIEZA] in selecting MWCI as its joint venture partner,” the complainants added.

Boracay has been closed to tourists since April 24. President Rodrigo Duterte, after saying that the world-famous island has become a "cesspool," ordered the shutdown for the tourist spot's rehabilitation that would take months.