THREE former officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and two others were charged before the Ombudsman for the allegedly anomalous leasing of advertising space by the Edsa MRT 3 to a private company.
The eight-page complaint, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, was filed by Howard Calleja.
Charged were Glicero Sicat, former Transportation undersecretary for Railways; Aristotle Batuhan, former DOTC undersecretary for Administrative and Legal Affairs and Finance and Comptrollership, and Raquel Desiderio, former assistant secretary for Legal Affairs.
Also in the charge sheet were Trackworks President and Chief Executive Officer Joselito de Joya and the current Metrostar Director for Operations Renato San Jose.
The respondents were accused of violating Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for allegedly failing to conduct a mandatory public bidding before entering into a contract for the lease of the advertising spaces owned by the government as required by RA 9184, or the Procurement Act.
The complaint stemmed from a controversial contract with Trackworks that was entered into on May 27, 2011, by the DOTC through Sicat for advertising in the Edsa MRT 3’s Buendia, Shaw and Ayala stations.
Calleja complained that the advertising spaces, being “government spaces must be put on bidding for the highest rates.”
“Consequently, the spaces, subject of this complaint, are owned by the government and should have been awarded to the highest bidder. In the absence of a public bidding, the government was unduly deprived of the opportunity to obtain the best rates for its available space,” Calleja stated.
“Despite the clear mandate of the law, there is no showing that the DOTC, put out an invitation to the public for the bidding of the advertising spaces. The lease of advertising spaces did not go through public bidding of any kind,” he said.
Calleja explained that the deal effectively deprived the government of the best terms for the commercial space from bidders, thereby putting the government at a grossly disadvantageous position.
“There being no bidding process conducted by the DOTC, it is crystal- clear that undue preference was given to Trackworks for the latter to secure the contract,” Calleja stressed.
Notwithstanding, the allegedly illegality of entering into an agreement between the DOTC, another party over the advertising rights within the MRT 3 system and the absence of compliance with the provisions of RA 9184, respondent San Jose issued access passes to Trackworks.
“This clearly shows that they approved of and continued the acts began by Sicat, Desiderio and Batuhan,” Calleja noted.
“Beyond doubt, respondents Sicat, Batuhan, Desiderio and San Jose, in conspiracy with Trackworks through respondent de Joya, committed violations of Section 3 [e] of RA 3019,” the complaint said.
Section 3 (e) states “causing any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence....”
