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THE
Sandiganbayan has ordered the trial of the criminal
charges filed against eight Navy officers and a trader
over the allegedly anomalous purchases of medical
supplies from October 1990 to July 1992.
In an
11-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Alexander
Gesmundo of the First Division, the antigraft court
denied the officers’ claim that the charges of graft and
two counts of falsification of public documents that
were filed against them by the Ombudsman were
insufficient to merit a trial.
Gesmundo
said that the Ombudsman has prima facie cases against
the defendants.
“The
prosecution’s evidence at this stage of the proceedings
is sufficient for purposes of finding movants guilty of
the offense charged absent countervailing evidence from
them,” the court declared.
The
defendants were Capts. Vicente Escala Jr. and Jesus
Biola; LCdrs. Leonardo Gamboa, George Segovia and
Augusto Iglesia; Cdrs. Aristotle de Guzman and Florante
Diaz; Lt. Col. Roger Topacio; and businessman Victoriano
Chua, owner of Porta Vaga Drug.
Escala
was charged in all three cases, while de Guzman, Biola,
Diaz and Gamboa were named in one count each of the
graft and falsification of public documents cases.
Another
Navy officer, Capt. Antonio Sibayan, who was originally
named as one of the defendants in the graft case, was
acquitted by the First Division owing to lack of
evidence.
Auditors
from the Commission on Audit admitted that Sibayan’s
name never appeared in any of the documents pertaining
to the case.
The
graft and falsification cases were filed against the
defendants over their alleged anomalous purchase of
medical supplies worth P2.79 million from Porta Vaga in
1992.
Prosecutors said there was a simulated public bidding
wherein it was made to appear that two other suppliers,
Farmacia Fugeda and Farmacia Pulido, supposedly
participated in the bidding.
However,
Francisco Garcia, owner of Farmacia Fugeda, claimed that
his company did not submit any canvass proposal to the
Navy and that somebody forged his signature on the
documents submitted in the “bogus” bidding.
Escala,
de Guzman, Biola, Diaz and Gamboa objected to the
admission of Garcia’s deposition on the ground that they
were not able to cross-examine him when the document was
drawn.
The
court, however, overruled their opposition, noting that
they were duly notified but failed to avail of the
opportunity to challenge the deposition.
Likewise, prosecutors claimed the transaction was
overpriced by P1.6 million.
Mary
Adelino, lead auditor of the team tapped by the
Commission on Audit to review the purchases, however
testified that they found that cost-padding only
amounted to P66,993.11.
Based on
prosecution documents, some of medical items were
overpriced by as much as 62 percent. |
