THE Office of the Ombudsman on Monday indicted former Muntinlupa City Mayor Aldrin San Pedro for illegally awarding a contract to a trading firm in 2008 for the purchase of 40,000 pieces of trolley bags worth P20,821,428.58.
Also charged with violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act were then officer in charge accountant Edwin Suitado; bids and awards committee chairman Roberto Bunyi; BAC vice chairman Michael Racelis; BAC members Avelino Orellana, Rodolfo Oliquino, Vicente Navarro, Peter Salonga and Sonia Laureta; technical working group chairman Roderick Espina, and TWG members Eduardo Bautista and Glenn Santos.
The suits arose from the complaints of Abel Sumabat, former head of the BAC secretariat, who accused San Pedro of personally instructing him in January 2008 to award the contract to CLMP Trading, a sole proprietorship registered in the name of Eliza Mendoza, and facilitate the release of the purchase order for the start of classes in June 2008.
Sumabat alleged that bid documents were fabricated to make them appear that a public bidding was conducted by the city.
Based on the 26-page resolution approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, San Pedro signed and issued the purchase order to CLMP Trading in March 2008, way before the BAC issued its May 6, 2018 resolution declaring the company as the lowest calculated and responsive bid.
The Ombudsman said the invitation to apply for eligibility and to bid was never published, making the trading firm as the sole bidder.