Former Zamboanga del Sur governor and now Rep. Aurora Cerilles is facing graft charges after Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales gave the green light to file the case against her and six others in connection with the alleged irregular purchase of medical supplies worth P6.8 million in 2001.
In a resolution, Carpio-Morales directed the filing with the Sandiganbayan of criminal information for violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019) against Cerilles while she was the provincial governor.
Also charged were Marina Tudio-Tampus, then officer-in-charge provincial accountant; Estita Tago, OIC provincial budget officer; Malaya Ysmael, OIC general services office; and Corazon Silla-Ariosa, Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Hospital chief, all four as members of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the provincial government; and private individuals Rey Morgada and Neil Cruz, who acted as representatives of U-Net Distributors Corp. (U-Net) that bagged the supplies contract.
The Office of the Ombudsman based its approval to pursue the filing of the criminal charges from the findings of the Commission on Audit (CoA), the Tribune was told.
The CoA findings showed that various hospital supplies amounting to P6,879,225 were procured from exclusive distributors in violation of Section 105 of CoA Circular No. 92-386,” which circular allows procurement from exclusive Philippine agents or distributors “only if (a) the Philippine distributor has no sub-dealers selling at lower prices; and (b) no suitable substitutes of substantially the same quality are available at lower prices.”
The same CoA findings said that the items procured from U-Net “were very common which do not require brand name in order to purchase the same from exclusive distributors.”
“Had the procurement been made through public bidding the agency could have saved more than P1,204,755 since there will be competition of prices among many prospective suppliers,” the CoA said.
The medical supplies that were purchased consist of scrub suit green (in large/medium sizes), flat sheet (66 X 108 in white, pink and blue colors), drawsheet (54 x 72) and abdominal bondage.