Mayor, 7 other execs of Cebu town found guilty of graft

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman announced yesterday the conviction of the incumbent mayor and seven other officials of Aloguinsan town in Cebu for graft over the anomalous procurement of construction materials in 2007.

Sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in jail were Aloguinsan Mayor Cynthia Moreno and members of the local Bids and Awards Committee – municipal civil registrar Pepito Manguilimotan, budget officer Nonela Villegas, agricultural officer Marilyn Flordeliza, utility workers Gertrudes Ababon and Emilia Luz Celis, assessor John Lim, and municipal engineer Orven Nengasca, who chaired the Technical Working Group.

Quoting a 27-page decision by the Sandiganbayan’s First Division, the Office of the Ombudsman said Moreno and the other accused were also slapped with the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Government lawyers presented evidence that no public bidding was conducted for the purchase of 311 sheets of composite aluminum panels and other construction materials worth P1.190 million from Diamond Interior Industries Corp.

The Sandiganbayan said the accused gave unwarranted benefits to the supplier through manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable neglect when the aluminum panels had been purchased prior to the supposed public bidding on Aug. 25, 2007.