ILOILO – The president of a medical supply company has been found guilty by the Supreme Court of violating Republic Act (RA) No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for conniving with local public officials by participating in a flawed bidding, resulting in unwarranted benefits and advantages in his favor.
In a 19-page Decision penned by Associate Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando, the Court denied the petition for review on certiorari filed by Rodrigo D. Villanueva, president and general manager of AM-Europharma Corporation (Europharma), and affirmed the rulings of the Sandiganbayan which found Villanueva guilty of violating Section 3 (e) of RA 3019.
This case is related to the February 2015 Sandiganbayan conviction – affirmed with finality also by the Supreme Court in March 2019 – of former Janiuay, Iloilo mayor Frankie Locsin for graft regarding the purchase of medicines from two companies that were owned by one person.
Locsin is currently serving his 10-year prison sentence at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntilupa City.
Section 3 (e) of RA 3019 provides that “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 his official, administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence” shall constitute corrupt practices of any public officer and are declared unlawful.
Villanueva and several local government officials of Janiuay, Iloilo were charged by the Office of the Ombudsman with violation of RA 3019 for allegedly conniving with each other for the purchase of medicines worth P13,191,223 from Europharma, notwithstanding the fact its accreditation was still pending with the Department of Health (DOH) when it was awarded the contract, thus disqualifying it from bidding.
It was also alleged that Villanueva was the sole proprietor of Mallix Drug Center (Mallix), a supplier which participated in the same public bidding and was awarded P1,744,926.
The Sandiganbayan held that all the accused conspired with each other and were guilty of violating Section 3 (e) of RA 3019 for awarding the contracts for the purchase of medicines to the business entities of petitioner.
Denying Villanueva’s petition for review of the Sandiganbayan’s Decision, the Court found that the prosecution satisfactorily established that there was a failure of bidding, since at the time of the public bidding on Jan. 15, 2001, the accreditation of Europharma and another bidder were still suspended by the DOH.
The Court said that Villanueva could not take refuge on his claim that a competitive bidding may be dispensed with as the transactions were under “Emergency Purchase” since the requisites of Section 36 of the Local Government Code were not present./PN
