Ex-Lucena City mayor appeals graft conviction

MANILA, Philippines — Former Lucena City mayor Ramon Talaga Jr. has urged the Sandiganbayan Third Division to reconsider its decision sentencing him to up to eight years of imprisonment in connection with the allegedly anomalous awarding of a P36-million computerization project to an unqualified service provider in 2002.

In his 37-page motion for reconsideration filed on November 2, Talaga said the Third Division erred in its Oct. 20, 2017 ruling finding him and three other former city officials guilty of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Talaga, former Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) chairperson Ofelia Garcia and former Committee on Awards members Ester Mabitag and Mercedita Capulong were sentenced to a minimum of six years and one month to a maximum of eight years of imprisonment. The court also ordered their perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2010, the graft case stemmed from the alleged anomalous awarding of a P36-million contract for the computerization of the city government's Revenue Generation System in 2002.

The ombudsman said the respondents resorted to “selective/limited source procurement” instead of holding a competitive public bidding in violation of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The ombudsman further alleged that Talaga and his co-accused “deliberately and unilaterally” changed the original Terms of Reference (TOR) for the project in order to qualify the software being used by information technology provider, Amellar Solutions.

In his motion for reconsideration, Talaga, through his lawyers Albert Angeles and Raymund Jonas Flores, maintained that there is no provision in the Local Government Code nor in RA 9184 prohibiting the local government units from resorting to limited source bidding, in which only pre-selected suppliers or consultants are invited to bid for a contract.

Talaga said Section 48 of RA 9184 even allows limited source bidding in justified circumstances.

Talaga said the computer units needed for the city's computerization program belonged to the class of “specialized goods” thus, limited source bidding was necessary to ensure that the project “would be insulated from incompetent bids that might only prove to be detrimental for the City in the end.”

Talaga said the prosecution failed to prove that limited source bidding was resorted to in order to give undue advantage or preference to Amellar.

“Accused were able to show that limited source bidding was only resorted to after having provided other bidders equal opportunity to present their proposals to the City,” Talaga's appeal read.

“Only after assessing the capabilities of the other applicants that the list was reduced to two: Amellar and Geodata who had projects already being implemented in other local government units in the Philippines,” it added.

Talaga also maintained that Amellar was compliant both to the original TOR and the amended TOR for the project contrary to the prosecution's allegation that original TOR was revised in order to qualify Amellar.

“Amellar was TOR-compliant...Exhibits showing its technical capability and the financial components of its bid would further prove that it was not awarded the computerization project on a whim or caprice or that such award was unwarranted,” Talaga said.

Lastly, Talaga said that as the then mayor of Lucena City, “who had other duties and responsibilities to attend to”, he relied on the recommendations of the Committee on Awards and the TEC to give the project to Amellar as the circumstances surrounding the limited source bidding “clearly indicated no irregularity, much less fraud.”

“This good faith, coupled with the constitutional presumption of innocence and the presumption of regularity in the performance of official functions negate the intent to violate the law, and the conferment of any unwarranted benefits, preference or advantage,” Talaga said.

The Third Division's decision came just a couple of weeks after the court's Fourth Division acquitted Talaga of another graft case which stemmed from the alleged anomalous awarding of a bingo gaming operations franchise to a private businessman.