MANILA – Ousted Supreme Court chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s purchase of a P5-million bulletproof service vehicle did not follow procurement laws, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).
COA’s report stated that the price of the Toyota Land Cruiser – which is P5,110,500 – was used as an approved budget “without market analysis or basis to determine if it was the most advantageous prevailing price.”
“It is contrary to the Government Procurement Reform Act,” said COA. “Approving the amount as the budget for the contract prevented other suppliers from participating, thereby defeating the purpose of public bidding.”
COA also said the contract of purchase for Sereno’s service vehicle was submitted to the auditor six months late. Its supporting documents were lacking, too.
The purchase of the service vehicle was one of the grounds pointed out in the impeachment complaint that lawyer Lorenzo Gadon filed against Sereno at the House of the Representatives.
Sereno had maintained that the SC en banc approved the acquisition of the bulletproof vehicle.
Sereno, who was ousted as SC chief justice recently due to the quo warranto petition that Solicitor General Jose Calida filed, has returned the vehicle to the SC ahead of the June 30 deadline.
The SC has ruled with finality for the dismissal of Sereno as chief justice for lack of integrity and for her failure to submit her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth as required by law./PN