Gwen sacked over Balili lot
DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT PB APPROVAL
The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia over the development of the controversial Balili property in Naga City, Cebu while she was still governor.
The Ombudsman said Garcia, now Deputy Speaker, committed grave misconduct when she entered into a contract with ABF Construction to develop the Balili property even without authority from the Provincial Board.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said Garcia violated Sections 46 and 47, Chapter 8, Subtitle B, Title I, Book V of the Administrative Code of 1987 and Section 86 of the Government Auditing Code, when she allegedly entered into a contract without a certification of appropriation and fund availability for the expenditure.
“It is undisputed that the certification of available funds was issued only after the second contract was entered into by respondent Garcia,” Morales said.
“While this office finds merit on her assertion that the P50 million allotments for the airport/seaport and other economic enterprises site development program, was a valid source of appropriation for the Balili project, such appropriation did not validly confer authority to respondent Garcia to enter into a contract with ABF Construction for the Balili project. She failed to point out the specific provision in the appropriation ordinance which supposedly authorized her to enter into the contract,” the Ombudsman decision reads.
It was in April 2012 when a public bidding was conducted and the project was awarded to Supreme ABF Construction “for the supply and delivery of backfilling materials and other incidentals of its submerged and mangrove portions.”
ABF was the lowest calculated and responsive bidder with a total bid of P248.75/cubic meter. The provincial government released P24,468,927.66 to the winning contractor.
Morales said the dismissal carries with it accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, cancellation of eligibility, and forfeiture of retirement benefits.
WON’T ENFORCE
Shortly after the Ombudsman's ruling came out, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the House of Representatives will not implement the dismissal because it does not have any Constitutional basis.
"The appropriate action is not to implement the order. Why? Because there is nothing in the Constitution that allows me to do that,” Alvarez said in a statement.
"In fact, it is not in the power of the Ombudsman to discipline, much more to remove any member of the House of Representatives,” Alvarez said.
Since the Constitution gives the House the power to discipline or even expel its members, Alvarez said implementing the Ombudsman's order would violate the House's charter.
“So, pagginawa ko yan, I will be violating the Constitution, since merong nakalagay sa Constitution na kami lang yung may kapangyarihan to discipline or remove a member of the House of Representatives,” Alvarez said.
Paragraph 3, Section 16 of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution provides that “Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of twothirds of all its Members, suspend or expel a Member.”
Besides, Alvarez said, the dismissal is in connection to Garcia's actions as governor, not as a lawmaker.
“Yung dismissal order nayan, angni-recommend mo dyan yung dismissal niya as a governor, not as a congressman. Baka late yung desisyon, late yung order. Dapat nilabas yung order nung siya ay isang gobernador pa lang,” Alvarez said.
CLARIFICATION
Garcia, meanwhile, said the recent dismissal order is in relation to the development of the lot and not to the actual purchase of the Balili property itself.
She said that in 2014, the Court of Appeals already nullified the case against her in relation to the purchase of the lot.
The Court of Appeals has said the Ombudsman “acted whimsically, capriciously, and arbitrarily amounting to lack of jurisdiction" in pursuing the case against Garcia despite her winning a reelection.
At that time, the Ombudsman found that more than half of the 249,246 square meter Balili property Capitol purchased in 2008 when Garcia was governor is under seawater.
Fast forward to this year, Garcia questioned the timing of the Ombudsman decision.
"The timing on dismissing me from government service is very suspicious considering that Ombudsman Conchita Morales is facing an impeachment complaint," Garcia said.
"It is no surprise that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, who now faces an impeachment complaint against her, would want to have the impeachment complaint dismissed by strongarming key members of Congress such as myself. My dismissal from service at her hands makes her motivation far too obvious," she said.
OTHER RESPONDENTS
Aside from dismissing Garcia, the Ombudsman also found Provincial Accountant Emmanuel Guial guilty of simple neglect of duty for certifying the documents were complete when, in fact, Garcia has no authority from the Provincial Board to enter into contact.
Guial was ordered suspended for three months.
Meanwhile, the Ombudsman cleared former Bids and Awards Committee Chairperson Marivic Garces; vice chairperson Bernard Calderon; members Manuel Purog, Emme Gingoyon, Ma. Junelene Arenas, Cristina Ginago, and Rosalinda Jao; and acting provincial treasurer Roy Salubre for lack of merit.