THE Office of the Ombudsman announced on Thursday the conviction of a former high-ranking official of the Philippine National Police for graft in connection with a land deal anomaly of a P1.5 million lot in 2001.
Chief Supt. Dionisio Coloma Jr., former deputy director of the Philippine National Training Institute and Philippine Public Safety College, was sentenced to a jail term of six to 10 years after he was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019.
The Ombudsman said Coloma facilitated the purchase of a one-hectare lot in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi at P1,500,000 for the site of a regional training school.
The Ombudsman prosecutors presented witnesses and documents to pin down Coloma, who was proven to have brokered the deal with close friends Rolando Lim and Albia Lim in 2001.
The Commission on Audit found that there were no documents, such as disbursement vouchers, to support the project, and that the purchase price was exorbitant as the prevailing market price in 2001 was pegged at only P9,730.00 per hectare.
“The purchase of property caused damage to the purchaser, not only because it was exorbitantly overpriced, but also because there is no authority or basis for the purchase of the lot in the first place,” the Sandiganbayan’s resolution read.
“Bad faith was manifestly shown by Coloma when he orchestrated the immediate transfer of the funds to the bank accounts of the contractors, to prevent these funds from reverting back to the national treasury. This was done without a single disbursement voucher being approved or any supporting document being submitted.”
Apart from imprisonment, Coloma was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
Meanwhile, the Ombudsman also ordered the filing of a separate graft case against three former local executives of Tigbauan in Iloilo City for their involvement in the anomalous procurement of second-hand tractors in 2009.
Those charged with violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act were former mayor Excelsior Torres, former municipal agriculturist Eugenia Sayson and former market supervisor George Tinguban before the Sandiganbayan.
The Ombudsman also ordered the two-month suspension of Sayson and Tinguban after they were found guilty of misconduct.
The investigation conducted by the Ombudsman revealed the municipality of Tigbauan purchased two second-hand Ford tractors worth P1,873,928.58 in 2009.
Respondents accepted and facilitated the full payment for the machines without testing the hydraulic spool valves, the Ombudsman said.
“The tractors turned out to be defective and had to be repaired in order to be functional and serviceable,” it added.
Torres and company claimed the defense of good faith when they performed their respective duties.
“The facts are all too glaring that respondents committed gross inexcusable negligence when they hastily certified the delivery of the tractors as complete and conforming to the quantity and specification, conveniently overlooking the deficiencies of the units,” the Ombudsman said.
“The sole fact that the tractors were second hand units, whose date of original acquisition was not disclosed in the sales invoice, is reason enough for respondents to insist on adequate testing of all the component parts to determine their operability, in order to safeguard the government from being shortchanged.”