Namfrel files graft complaint against Tancangco

Retired Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco faces graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman after the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) held her accountable for the non-automation of the May 10 national elections.

Namfrel executives Guillermo Luz, Augusto Lagman and former executive director Telibert Laoc said Tancangco, who retired on Feb. 2, should also be indicted for awarding the Voters’ Registration and Identification System (VRIS) project to Photokina Marketing Corp.

The three said Tancangco should be held accountable for awarding the contract to distribute tamper-proof voters’ identification cards to Photokina in a P6.6-billion bid contract, when the Comelec had allocated only P1.2 billion for the purpose of giving IDs to some 36 million Filipino voters.

They said the Supreme Court invalidated the contract for being disadvantageous to the government, for which Tancangco is criminally liable under the Anti-Graft Law (Republic Act 3019). Under the law, Tancangco is liable for causing undue injury to the government by giving Photokina unwarranted benefits.

"Tancangco should have rejected the bid for being excessive, or should have withdrawn the notice of award on grounds that, under the law, it is null and void," they said. "Because of Tancangco’s inexplicable fixation on the VRIS project, the Comelec was not able to cause the automation of the counting of votes in the May 2001 elections."

"Despite the discrepancy between the allocated budget and Photokina’s winning bid, Tancangco insisted on undertaking the project and issued a notice of award to Photokina," the poll watchdog said in a statement that quoted the Supreme Court as saying the VRIS project bidding was "way beyond (the Comelec’s) allocation."

Namfrel said Tancangco was "guilty of gross, inexcusable negligence" with regards to the VRIS project bidding because she was the chair of the Comelec modernization committee in 1998. Her committee was assigned the task of implementing the Poll Modernization Act (Republic Act 8346) that authorized the Comelec to automate the national election in 1998 and the local elections in 2001.

"As chairperson, Tancangco was thus principally responsible for the failure to cause the counting for the May 2001 elections to be automated," Namfrel said. "Instead of focusing the Comelec’s resources toward its implementation, Tancangco devoted her efforts to promoting (the) VRIS) project that had no basis in law."

In a 20-page complaint, the Namfrel executives said Tancangco’s failure to implement RA 8346 was "unjustified and could only be attributed to her failure to act judiciously and seasonably on her mandate."

Tancangco and retired Comelec Commissioner Ralph Lantion, as well as Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos and the other Comelec commissioners have been charged with graft by opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel over the allegedly anomalous awarding of the P1.3 billion contract for the automated counting machines (ACMs) to the Mega Pacific consortium.