BSP officials criminally charged before Ombudsman
“THE government has gone deaf. They are not listening to the people, and this is a time for them to start listening.” This was the prologue in the criminal complaint against select officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by the Crimes and Corruption Watch International Inc. (CCWII) last week.
CCWII is a national anti-corruption organization led by its founding chairman, Dr. Carlomagno Batalla.
Named respondents in the complaint are incumbent BSP Governor Dr. Eli Remolona Jr. and former BSP governor Benjamin Diokno. Also named respondents are: Dahlia Luna, senior assistant governor — security plant complex; Mamerto Tangonan, deputy governor — payments and currency management sector; and Mary Anne Lim, assistant governor — currency and securities production subsector.
The members of the BSP bids and awards committee, who were included as respondents, include Prudence Angelita Kasala, Rogel Joseph del Rosario, Carl Cesar Bibat, Marianne Santos, Salvador del Mundo and Giovanni Israel PPJ Joson. Dr. Claire Dennis Mapa, in his capacity as Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) chairman, was also impleaded.
These public officials, together with the board of directors of AllCards Inc. (ACI), were charged with criminal violation of Republic Act (RA) 9184, or the “Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA)”; RA 6713, or the “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees”; and RA 3019, or the “AntiGraft and Corrupt Practices Act.”
Basis of complaint
CCWII alleged that for the duration of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) project, several delays, “deficiencies and irregularities in the production of the 116 million Philippine Identification Cards (PhilID) undertaken by the BSP, with the concurrence of PSA,” and with the direct participation of the named respondents, were publicly exposed.
“With all the anomalies, neverending complaints from the public, substandard plastic PhilID cards and delayed deliveries, no one from the government (e.g., lawmakers, public officials), or even the civil society, had filed any criminal complaint against the officials of BSP, PSA and ACI. CCWII, as an anti-corruption organization, cannot sit idly [by] and watch these criminal activities and corrupt schemes go by,” Batalla said.
Aside from the more than 50 percent delivery delays, CCWII claimed that ACI produced inferior PhilID cards, which violated the terms of reference (TOR) of the project. “Based on the TOR, respondent ACI should produce and personalize the PhilID card with colored photograph on the cards through a combination of laser engraving (black and white or monochrome) and superimposed with digital colored printing/dropon-demand (DOD) technology.
However, respondent ACI failed to follow this and instead produced only the digitally colored photograph using the DOD technology resulting in its easily erasable state. Respondent ACI failed to perform laser engraving — contrary to the requirements of the TOR. Worse, public respondents from the BSP and PSA approved and accepted such substandard outputs and deliveries. Without doubt, this is contrary to law.”
According to CCWII, ACI was supposed to produce and personalize at least 126,000 PhilID cards per day. Yet, their output was placed at a mere 80,000 cards per day, which was way below the required output. Again, the BSP and PSA allegedly approved and accepted such delayed deliveries.
GPRA violations
CCWII contended that the “TOR serves as a foundational document for the contracting parties, which sets the expectations, requirements and conditions for the project. Modifying the TOR after the award is akin to altering the terms of the contract, which is deemed against the law. Changing the TOR after awarding the project could be perceived as unfair to other bidders who based their proposals on the original TOR — which is considered as a violation of the essence of competitive bidding,” a blatant violation of the GPRA.
The BSP and PSA’s acceptance of the substandard products and delayed deliveries from AIC “is tantamount to giving the winning bidder a benefit that was not known and unavailable to all bidders during the bidding of the PhilSys Project, which is a clear violation of the bidding rules and the equal protection clause of the Constitution.”
CCWII cited a ruling established in Agan Jr. v Philippine International Air Terminals, Co. Inc. (GR 155001, 155547 and 155661): “If this flawed process [were] allowed, public bidding [would] cease to be competitive, and worse, the government would not be favored with the best bid. Bidders will no longer bid on the basis of the prescribed terms and conditions in the bid documents but will formulate their bid in anticipation of the execution of a future contract containing new and better terms and conditions that were not previously available
at the time of the bidding. Such a public bidding will not inure to the public good.”
If found guilty of these violations, the respondent public officials from BSP and PSA will suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not less than six years and one day, but not more than 15 years.
Govt officials colluded with private contractor
With all of these revelations, it seems that collusion exists between the public officials from BSP and the private contractor ACI in the implementation of the PhilSys project. This can have serious negative consequences such as undermining the principles of transparency, accountability, fairness and efficiency in public procurement processes, leading to negative economic, social and political consequences for society as a whole.
Collusion erodes public trust and confidence in government institutions and undermines the credibility of the bidding process. It undermines public confidence in the government’s ability to serve the public interest and uphold the rule of law. This can lead to disillusionment, apathy and decreased participation in civic affairs, weakening democratic governance and accountability.