PCGG files plunder raps vs 7 ex-shipyard officials

MANILA, Philippines - The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has filed plunder and graft charges against seven former directors and officials of the Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Co. Inc. (BASECO) before the Office of the Ombudsman.

BASECO was one of the companies sequestered by the government from the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies in 1986.

The PCGG and the current board of directors of BASECO sued former directors Proceso Maligalig, who also served as president; Agustiniana Avelino, who served as treasurer; Wilmar Lucero, Rene Cruz and Gloria Cortez, who served as directors.

Also included in the charge are former BASECO legal counsel John Jay Consunji and finance officer Socorro Santos.

The PCGG said the case was filed after a review of the company’s financial transactions from January 2007 to June 2011 by the new BASECO management which showed that these former officials’ compensation during that period alone reached P220 million, with Maligalig getting as much as P99 million.

“The other officials who received monies in the form of excessive compensation, fraudulent cash advances and unaccounted bank withdrawals during the period were: Consunji (P18,170,961.32), Santos (P15,770,802.50) Avelino (P8,503.253), Lucero (P7,877,108), Cruz (P2,645,873) and Cortez (P2,215,624),” the agency said in a statement.

Maligalig has denied getting excess compensation during his term.

The commission said 13 officials were originally set to face these charges, but six of them have agreed to pay back their accountabilities. BASECO has started collecting a total of P19 million from the six other former officials who agreed to settle their liabilities, it said.

BASECO was incorporated in August 1972 to engage in shipbuilding and dry-docking.