Police ex-chief, 5 officers jailed in $26m scam
MANILA: A former chief of the Philippine National Police ( PNP) and five other senior officers were convicted by a special anti-grat court for the anomalous purchase of $26 million worth of rubber boats in yet another major blow to the image of an agency linked to corruption and alleged abuses like rampant human rights violations.
The Sandiganbayan ruled it found Jesus Verzosa, a retired PNP chief, and five of his senior officers “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” and sentenced each of them to a prison term of from six to eight years for grat.
Also meted out the same penalty were Jefferson Soriano and Benjamin Belarmino, the former PNP deputy chiefs, as well as directors Luizo Ticman and Romeo Hilomen and Villamor Bumanlag, the former head of the PNP Maritime Group.
Significantly, while undergoing trial and out on bail, Soriano was elected and has been reelected as the mayor of his hometown, the capital city of Tuguegarao, Cagayan in the Northern Luzon highlands. A charge sheet filed before the court by then Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-morales, accused Verzosa and the other PNP officers of involvement in the anomalous purchase from three companies of $26 million worth of 75 rubber boats which were later confirmed to be defective, inferior and unusable in PNP rescue missions during floods.
“The violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-grat and Corrupt Practices Act was consummated from momenttheaccused,inconspiracywithoneanother, awarded the contract to ineligible suppliers who were neither of good standing nor could deliver the (rubber boats) in compliance with the National Police Commission,” the 88-page decision read.
It added: “The accused commited acts of evident bad faith, manifest partiality, or at the very least gross inexcusable negligence, which gave unwarranted benefit and advantage to the suppliers.”
In a separate but related development, the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) announced it filed administrative charges against two senior police officers and 21 of their men for their alleged involvement in the killing of Mayor Ronaldo Aquino of Calbayog City, Samar in the Visayas, and two others on March 8.
The IAS identified the senior officers as Colonel Michael David, the chief of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) in the PNP Eastern Visayasregionalcommand,andlieutenantcolonel Neil Montano, the regional police intelligence chief.
According to IAS, David and Montano were administratively charged for irregularity in the performance of their duties for command responsibility. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also filed separate criminal charges of murder and frustrated murder against seven policemen and three civilians linked to the killing of Aquino.