A public works legal officer has filed graft charges against his superior, the DPWH regional director of Bicol, before the office of the Ombudsman over alleged anomalous bidding and promotion of personnel.
Lawyer Oliver Rodulfo has also asked Public Works Secretary Mark Villar to suspend Region V director Reynaldo Tagudando, who is facing administrative and criminal complaints before the Ombudsman docketed as OMB-L-A-16-0388 and OMB-l-C-16-0399.
In his complaint, Rodulfo claimed that Tagudando abused his authority; committed grave misconduct, gross ignorance of the law; dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
In his letter to Villar, Rodulfo said Tagudando has been anointing officials to be promoted instead of the regular and usual selection process for reasons only known to the director.
He also accused the director of “rigged and fixed” bidding by DPWH Region V employees in the bids and awards committee secretariat and technical working group, with the winning bids always sticking to a five-percent variance.
As for the implementation of projects, DPWH-Bicol has been deliberately and arbitrarily granting “unjustified” suspension orders and extensions despite the high percentage of slippages, Rodulfo claimed, citing the Masbate-Cataingan-Placer Road project, among others.
The lawyer said he is willing to testify despite knowledge that Tagudando is “moneyed, armed, and dangerous,” according to the letter-complaint.
Rodulfo’s letter said the corruption at Bicol DPWH is a conspiracy with some division chiefs and cohorts of the director, thus he appealed to Villar to immediately relieve Tagudando “so that a fair probe would take place.”
“I’m just too willing to be a witness,” the lawyer added.
He also filed before the Ombudsman two cases of administrative and criminal complaints against Tagudando and Administrative Officer V David Isabelo Alvarez involving an appointment of an outsider, lawyer Felix Brazil, and two engineers, Marilou Sariba and Cornelio Relativo Jr., who were promoted from Engineer 3 to Engineer 4.
“Relativo was a promotional test flunker but defeated his rival who is already an Engineer V, experienced and a promotional test topnotcher, for the position of Quality Control Division assistant chief,” Rodulfo said.
“Sariba has been absent for almost a year but has been promoted to assistant construction division chief, while Brazil’s appointment did not even pass my office, being the head of the legal Bicol office,” he added in his letter.
“While I fear the stature and connections of the regional director, I am prepared to assume the risk in support of the government’s campaign against corruption,” Rodulfo said in his letter to Villar.