Masbate Governor, 9 others charged for plunder

MANILA, Philippines — Two radio reporters in Masbate province filed a complaint for plunder against Gov. Antonio Kho and nine other officials for the alleged anomalous awarding of contracts for three road rehabilitation projects worth P99.8 million in 2022.

In a 22-page complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman on Aug. 21, local radio reporters Benjamin Gigante and Edarlito Doremon Jr. charged Kho for plunder, graft, malversation of public funds, falsification of public documents and unlawful amassing of wealth.

The same offenses were heaped against Masbate treasurer Eduardo Arcenas Jr., budget officer Liborio Gonzalez Jr., accountant Glenda Talisic, engineer Ralph Bacolod, legal officer and Bids and Awards Committee chairman Rany Sia, BAC members Lowell Pillejera, Roberto Leyco and Rino Revalo and project engineer Ricardo Montecalvo.

Named as private respondents were Edgardo Atienza, owner and manager of ABCG Builders; Mary Grace Baylon, general manager and proprietor of Sansa Construction & Supply; and Shalou Pitajen, owner and manager of Shaljomar Construction and Supply.

The complainants, both officers of the Masbate Quad Media Society, alleged that the provincial government disbursed P99.8 million of the P500-million loan the province obtained from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

They alleged that P100 million of the DBP loan was earmarked to finance the construction of a Sangguniang Panlalawigan legislative building, but was instead diverted to fund three “ghost” road rehabilitation or regravelling projects.

The projects, they alleged, are the five-kilometer National Road to Taisan Road project in Milagros town worth P19.94 million and awarded to ABCG Builders, the eight-km National Road to Lantangan Road project in Mandaon town worth P31.935 million and awarded to Sansa Construction and Supply, and the 12-km Barangay Dayao-Bugtong Road project, also in Mandaon, worth P47.93 million and awarded to Shaljomar Construction and Supply.

According to Gigante and Doremon, the biddings for the three projects were rigged to conceal the irregularities in the disbursement of funds.

“It was simply table work, simulated and manipulated merely to justify the disbursement and malicious looting of government funds,” the complaint read.

Gigante and Doremon said that if there were competitive biddings, the three contractors would have been disqualified as they lack some of the equipment required to complete the projects.

They also alleged that Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) records show that the respective licenses of Sansa Construction and Shaljomar Construction were only under “Small B, Category D” – a rank that should only be awarded with projects worth P15 million or below.

Gigante and Doremon also claimed that the “projects were never implemented as testified to by several residents and village officials” and by their own site validation.

“Instead, the contractors submitted falsified accomplishment reports while the provincial officials issued falsified inspection reports, monthly certificate of payments, statement of time elapsed, and other supporting documents to conceal the fictitious nature of the projects,” the complaint read.

“There is indeed conspiracy among the respondents to steal government funds under the guise of road rehabilitation/gravelling projects. This would not have been made possible without the indispensable concerted participation of all the respondents,” it added.

The complainants asked the ombudsman to place Kho and the nine other accused officials. They also asked the anti-graft office to place them.

If found guilty, the complainants said, Kho and his co-accused should be dismissed from the service and perpetually disqualified from holding public office.