7 ex-PNR execs get 20 years for graft

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has sentenced seven former officials of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) to up to 20 years in prison for graft over the purchase of allegedly substandard wood for railroad tracks amounting to P47.135 million in 2013.

In a 69-page decision promulgated on June 9, the court’s Seventh Division found former PNR division managers Abdul Aziz Pangandaman, Estelito Nierva and Ruben Besmonte; former assistant department manager Divina Gracia Dantes; former principal engineers Cesar Bocanog and Mario (also known as Marlo) Arias and former legal counsel Neofito Perilla guilty of two counts each of violating Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Pangandaman, Nierva, Besmonte, Dantes and Perilla were former members the PNR bids and awards committee while Bocanog and Arias were former members of the PNR technical working group.

They were sentenced to six up to ten years of imprisonment for each count of the offense or a total of 12 to 20 years for two counts. They were also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The Seventh Division, on the other hand, acquitted former PNR general manager Junio Norberto Ragragio and former division manager Rosendo Calleja “for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2017, the cases stemmed from the PNR’s procurement from private supplier Nikka Trading of 10,490 bridge ties, 942 joint ties and 41 sets of switch ties all made of larch, a species of softwood, imported from China.

The ombudsman said the purchased items, amounting to P47.135 million, were substandard as the PNR board resolutions and all the bidding documents specified that all the ties to be procured must be made of yakal, a hardwood species usually used for railroad tracks.

The wood ties purchased by the PNR were supposed to be used in the rehabilitation of the Bicol Express tracks.

The Commission on Audit, in 2014, also issued a notice of disallowance against the PNR officials in connection with the softwood ties purchase.

The former PNR officials earlier maintained that the payments made to Nikka Trading were “legal and binding” and that there was no document showing the exclusivity of specifications in favor of yakal over larchwood.

The former PNR officials also said the charges should have been dismissed as there was no allegation of overpricing, shortage of delivery or fraud.

In its decision, however, the Seventh Division noted that all the procurement documents such as the invitation to bid, bid data sheet, post-qualification report, notice of award and the contract specified yakal as the wood specie to be purchased.

The court also cited the testimony of prosecution witness Elvina Bondad of the Department of Science and Technology’s Forest Products Research and Development Institute stating that samples of larchwood from Nikka Trading had a strength rating of “low to moderately low.”

“They blindly moved forward, carrying with them the risk of installing subpar quality and endangering the safety of the riding public,” the court said.