Assets of DPWH personnel in repair scam to be seized

Government prosecutors will move to confiscate all the assets and properties acquired by the 20 officials and employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and 10 private individuals who were charged with plunder before the Sandiganbayan last Friday.

"We will freeze their assets which includes their bank deposits," Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said.

Aside from the plunder charges, Villa Ignacio said they will also file charges of graft, swindling and falsification of public documents against the accused before the Sandiganbayan. Once the plunder charges are acknowledged by the anti-graft court, Villa Ignacio said they would move for the Bureau of Immigration to place on their hold- departure list the 30 respondents in the case.

The Ombudsman has denied all the respondents their right to bail, citing the evidence against them is strong enough to convict them in court. The charges stemmed from alleged P134-million "ghost repairs" of DPWH vehicles.

Villa Ignacio said the filing of the charges came from an exhaustive investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman, which found that one of the respondents, DPWH motorpool chief Maximo Borje was the "hub" of the scam where he personally raked in P82.3 million in "reimbursements" from March to December 2001. Villa Ignacio said about 521 vehicles of the DPWH were "repaired" by Borje and his cohorts.

Aside from Borje, among those charged were DPWH directors Burt Favorito, Florendo Arias, and personnel Erdito Quarta, Agerico Palaypay, Napoleon Anas, Danilo Planta, Luisito de la Rosa, Rogelio Beray, Norma Villarmino, Ricardo Juan, Nelson Umali, Ma. Luisa Cruz. Also charged were employees Melissa Espina, Violeta Tadeo, Jessica Catibayan, Violeta Amar, Ronaldo Simbahan, Felipe San Jose and Rolando Castillo.

Among the private individuals included in the charge sheet were vehicle spare parts suppliers Conchita de la Cruz, Janette Bugayong, Jesus Capuz, Rodellia Uy, Romeo Fullido, Nanette Fullido, Victoria Go, Carmelito Edem, Augusto Capuz and Vicente Santos Jr.

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said Borje and the other respondents "conspired and took advantage" of their position to misuse public funds for fictitious vehicle repairs and appropriated them for their benefit.

Villa Ignacio said three DPWH employees who exposed the anomaly will testify as state witnesses.