ILOILO City – Three employees of the local government unit of Guimbal, Iloilo dismissed from the service over an alleged fertilizer scam were cleared and ordered reinstated by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Finding merit on the Motion for Reconsideration of Municipal Agriculturist Lorenzo Genodepa, Municipal Treasurer Isabel Gargalicano and then officer-in-charge of the Office of the Accountant Rebecca Genzon, Ombudsman Samuel Martires granted the plea, reversed and set aside the Office’s July 2017 ruling.
In the July 2017 ruling, the Ombudsman found the three “guilty of grave misconduct punishable by dismissal from the service, which shall carry with it the cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits except for accrued leave credits, and perpetual disqualification for reemployment in the government service.”
The case as regarding the procurement of P3 million-worth of Bionature liquid organic fertilizers from Feshan Philippines Inc. According to the Ombudsman’s previous ruling, the municipal government intentionally shortcut the procurement process to direct contracting to skip the public bidding for the fertilizers and ensure that Feshan bagged the contract.
The Ombudsman then also found out that Feshan’s Bionature liquid fertilizer was grossly overpriced at P1,500 per bottle, as a similar product can be procured at only P120 per bottle.
In their Motion for Reconsideration, Genodepa, Gargalicano and Genzon pointed out the inordinate delay that attended the case – the fact-finding investigation was initiated in 2006 but the complaint was filed only in May 2013 or after seven years.
Also, they pointed out that the complaint was decided only in 2017 or after more than four years from the time of the charge’s filing.
In total, the delay stretched to 11 years, they argued – a violation of their constitutional right to speedy disposition of their case.
Moreover, Genodepa, Gargalicano and Genzon lamented that state auditors did not issue any Audit Observation Memorandum, Notice of Suspension or Notice of Disallowance after they conducted a post-audit of the transaction.
Simply put, the transaction “passed in audit”, they stressed.
“Viewed in the foregoing light, the Motion for Reconsideration is granted. Accordingly, the assailed decision dated July 25, 2017 finding grave misconduct against them and imposing the penalty of dismissal from service is reversed and set aside,” the dispositive portion of the Ombudsman’s decision read.
The decision was dated Nov. 19, 2018 yet but was made known only recently./PN
