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The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of information for graft and violation of the Government Procurement Reform Act against former Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT) general manager Al Vitangcol III and five others over the irregularities in the MRT-3 maintenance contract.
In a 39-page Resolution, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales found probable cause to charge Vitangcol and five incorporators of the Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corporation (PH Trams), namely Wilson De Vera, Marlo Dela Cruz, Manolo Maralit, Federico Remo and Arturo Soriano, uncle-in-law of Vitangcol and currently the presently the provincial accountant of Pangasinan.
The Ombudsman said Vitangcol and the five others conspired to irregularly award the MRT-3 interim maintenance contract to the joint venture between PH Trams and CB&T in 2012.
It said Vitangcol, as then general manager, head of the negotiating team, and member of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), used his authority “to dictate the proponents invited for the preliminary negotiations” of the maintenance services and “intentionally hid his [affinitive] relationship with Soriano, which would have automatically disqualified PH Trams.”
Vitangcol was relieved of his duties in May last year following allegations that he awarded the maintenance contract to a relative.
He later resigned but maintained that there was no admission of guilt on his part.
The Ombudsman resolution also ruled that the incorporators of PH Trams were equally liable for executing a false Affidavit of Disclosure on August 12, 2012 stating that none of them were related by affinity with any member of the procurement teams.
It said it found unavailing Soriano’s claim that he divested his interest on September 10, 2012, noting that such waiver was not recorded in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Soriano’s claim also ran contrary to his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) declaring that he obtained an interest as a stockholder of PH Trams in November 2012.
The maintenance contract was awarded to the PH Trams – CB&T joint venture on October 20, 2012 in the amount of $1.15 million monthly. It was renewed three times until September 4, 2013.
Photo: News clip
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
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