MANILA — The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal from service of three officials of the National Irrigation Authority’s (NIA) Bukidnon Provincial Irrigation Office for their alleged involvement in irregularities in the procurement of more than PHP9-million worth of fertilizers in 2009.
The Ombudsman found NIA Division Manager Editha Abdon, Administrative and Finance Head Adelina Calonge, and Principal Engineer Leonila Tenestrante guilty of gross neglect of duty.
It noted that “the penalty of dismissal from the service carries the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, forfeiture of retirement benefits, bar from taking the civil service exam, and cancellation of civil service eligibility.”
Investigation showed that in June 2009, the NIA Regional Office (RO) received a PHP10-million fund for the implementation of the Department of Agriculture’s bio-organic fertilizer program.
Out of such fund, the NIA RO purchased thousands of bags/liters of organic fertilizers and pesticides from the suppliers 3K & C Enterprises, Dating Bayan Agro Industrial Corp., MLB Enterprises, and EMP Feed Mix Manufacturing.
The probe also unearthed that the suppliers failed to meet the required product specifications and quality standards and that the projects were awarded without the benefit of public bidding.
It also found out that supplier 3K is a business company owned by Regina Salazar, wife of then NIA Administrator Carlos Salazar; that there was splitting of projects; and that no post-qualification proceedings were undertaken to ensure the capability of the suppliers to undertake the project.
In its decision, the Ombudsman said the respondents “committed serious neglect of duty: Abdon and Calonge by certifying that the supporting documents for the first tranche disbursements were complete, when in fact this was not the case; and Tenestrante for failing to conduct real post-qualification of MLB as required by Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act).”
“As there was no justification for the resort to shopping, not to mention the apparent splitting of the PHP9,477,200, Abdon should not have permitted the disbursements from the fund. The same is true with respect to Calonge. As such Head, she also allowed this disbursement notwithstanding the lack of public bidding,” it added. (Perfecto Raymundo, Jr./PNA)
