Ex-Bacolod lawmaker faces graft raps

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of charges against former Bacolod congressman, now Mayor Monico Puentevella, along with two others, for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for alleged irregularities in the purchase of computers worth over P25 million when he was still in Congress.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said her office has found probable cause to charge Puentevella, along with Victoriano Tirol Jr., former Department of Education regional director for Western Visayas, and Jessie Garcia, president of Merryland Publishing, the supplier of the computer packages, for violation of RA 3019 before the Sandiganbayan.

The 13-page resolution of the Ombudsman was penned by assistant special prosecutor Anna Isabel Aurellano last Sept. 30 and signed by Carpio-Morales on Oct. 2. A copy of the resolution was obtained by the media on Wednesday.

Last Monday, Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol told Bombo Radyo-Bacolod that he forwarded his resolution of the case to the Office of the Ombudsman in 2011.

Sought for his reaction to Apostol’s statement, Puentevella said in a text message, “What else is new? I haven’t received it (Ombudsman’s resolution) but that’s (the) same issue. (I) guess the enemy isn’t sleeping... same people.”

The case stemmed from Puente-vella’s release of millions of pesos from his Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, from 2002 to 2007 for computer packages for public elementary and secondary schools in Bacolod, that were allegedly found to be defective and unsuitable for school use.

In their complaint-affidavit in 2007, lawyers Allan Zamora, now deceased and was the city legal officer at the time of filing of the case, Joselito Bayatan, and Vicente Petierre alleged that Puentevella, Tirol, and Garcia committed anomalies in the procurement and distribution of the computer packages.

The three lawyers alternately served as city legal officer under then mayor Evelio Leonardia, who served for three terms from 2004 to 2013 before he was elected congressman last May.

They alleged that the DepEd-Western Visayas office, then headed by Tirol, purchased the computer packages from Merryland Publishing, based in Mandaluyong City, at P400,000 each without any public bidding.

Quoting a report of the city legal office’s investigation committee dated March 26, 2007, the complainants alleged that the computer packages were “overpriced, defective, and non-functional,” and that a number of beneficiaries did not receive them.

The whole purchase was allegedly overpriced by P14 million, according to investigation committee’s report.

Puentevella earlier had assailed the investigation as being partial against him, and that the complaint was politically motivated since it was filed by the former lawyers of Leonardia. The two are known to be political rivals.