5 Navy officials convicted of graft over meds bid mess

The Sandiganbayan has convicted a former high-ranking Navy official and four other officials of graft for procuring P1.8 million worth of medicines without any public bidding.

In a statement, the Office of the Ombudsman said former Flag Officer-in-Command of the Philippine Navy (PN), Vice Admiral Mariano Dumancas, Jr., was convicted by the Sandiganbayan of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Others convicted were Commander Rosendo Roque, a naval procurement officer; Command- er Ramon Renales, head of Price Monitoring Office; Commodore Francisco Tolin, Philippine Coast Guard deputy commandant; and Commander Manuel Tuason, assistant chief of staff for logistics.

They were sentenced to imprisonment of six to 10 years for each count of graft.

Dumancas and Roque were found guilty of five counts of graft while Renales was convicted of four counts. Tolin and Tuason were convicted of one count of graft each.

Two other officials, Captains Alfredo Penola and Walter Briones, and suppliers Connie Tagle and Ra- mon Vito, have remained at large.

Ombudsman prosecutors said the officials failed to comply with government procurement rules, including the conduct of a public bidding, for the purchase of medicines worth P1.8 million from 1991 to 1992. The purchase was made through the emergency mode of procurement.

Most of the medicines that were purchase were “over-the-counter drugs such as paracetamol, amoxicillin and multivitamins.”

The Sandiganbayan, however, acquitted the five officials of charges of violating Section 3(g) of R.A. No. 3019 for lack of evidence to prove that the prices of the medicines were overpriced.

In its ruling, the anti-graft court did not subscribe to the defense of the accused that the “period when the subject transactions were made was an unusual time” because of the rumors of a coup d’etat. The court noted that the medicines purchased were used to replenish the stocks of the medical and dental units./