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[av_heading heading=’ Ex-Tanjay mayor hauled to Sandigan over graft’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Saturday, April 29, 2017
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BACOLOD City – For barangay projects “riddled with procurement anomalies,” the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the indictment of former mayor Lawrence Teves of Tanjay City, Negros Oriental before the Sandiganbayan.
Sangguniang Panlungsod members Jose Orlino and Steve Teves were also charged with violation of Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
“Red flags” were observed in the construction of footsteps in barangays Obogon and Sto. Niño, the Ombudsman said in a post on its website on Friday, citing a report from the Commission on Audit (COA).
There was a three-year delay in the project implementation — the city government got the materials on July 15, 2011 but the actual installation was made only in 2014 — the Ombudsman said, citing the COA.
“It was also observed that 85 pieces of footsteps were not installed [but] only piled near the house of the punong barangay of Sto. Niño,” said the Ombudsman.
Teves “cannot hide behind the defense that he merely approved the transaction to benefit the city,” it said. “Clearly shown in the Program of Works is the fact that the implementation shall be ‘by administration,’ that is the executive branch.”
City councilors Orlino and Steve Teves were also charged because they “requested for the project and concurred in the canvass and award to Rebelin Enterprises for the supply of construction materials.”
They also signed the delivery receipts, “which obviously meant that they received materials,” said the Ombudsman.
All three “acted in concert in the procurement of construction materials and in not complying with the dimensions of the footsteps, resulting to shortage in volume and delay in the project completion,” it added.
Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act prohibits public officials from causing any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of their official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence, said the Ombudsman./PN
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