2 ex-BFAD officials cleared of graft

MANILA, Philippines - Two former officials of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) have been cleared of graft charges filed by a local firm after they granted permits to local distributors of Red Bull Supreme energy drink.

In a seven-page decision, the Office of the Ombudsman junked the graft case filed by Energy Food and Drinks Inc. (EFDI) against Nazarita Tacandong, former acting director IV of BFAD and Emilio Polig, former chief of legal and information division of BFAD.

The anti-graft office held that the grant of certificate of product registration (CPR) has nothing to do with intellectual property rights (IPR).

The ruling was released to reporters covering the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has concurrent jurisdiction on graft cases against government officials.

EFDI accused Tacandong and Polig of violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act when they approved the application for CPR by Maryland Distributors Inc. (MDI), the new exclusive distributor of Red Bull authorized by Thailand-based manufacturer T.C. Pharmaceutical Industries Co. Ltd. (TCPI).

But the Ombudsman ruled: “There is no iota of evidence showing probable cause to indict respondents for violation of RA 3019.”

The decision promulgated last Nov. 9 explained that the EFDI’s own CPR has nothing to do with intellectual property rights.  

The Office of the Ombudsman said the law does not confer any intellectual property rights on the grantee of a CPR. It said the requirement of registration of imported product in BFAD is only intended to ensure “that the customers are adequately protected from adulterated, misbranded and otherwise substandard food products.”

The ombudsman said the complainant also failed to point out any law or BFAD rules prohibiting the issuance of a CPR because of issues on distributorship agreement over an imported product.  

In its complaint, EFDI claimed that the BFAD officials conspired with MDI for issuance of the latter’s CPR, despite the EFDI’s claim that it owns the intellectual property rights over Red Bull in the Philippines.

TCPI terminated its distribution contract with EFDI effective Oct. 31, 2008 and appointed MDI as the new importer of Red Bull in the Philippines on May 22, 2009.