San Andres, Romblon: Municipal Mayor Fernald Rovillos and six others are facing a graft case before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the purchase of seedlings. The Office of the Ombudsman accused them of violating Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 (the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). The Ombudsman alleged in the charge sheet “[t]hat in June 2014, or sometime prior or subsequent thereto,” the accused then-public officers, “conspiring and confederating with one another” and with Perlas, “willfully, unlawfully and criminally g[a]ve Perlas Seed Growers or Perlas unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference by awarding, causing and/or ensuring the award of the contract to the latter for the purchase of 10,000 pieces of Bitaog Seedlings, through Direct Contracting even if there was no certification from the Department of Trade and Industry that [there]were no other sub-dealers selling the same seedlings at a lower price and by paying the full purchase price” when the seedlings delivered were allegedly “incomplete,” supposedly “thereby causing undue injury to the government equivalent to the price of the undelivered seedlings.”The Ombudsman recommended P30,000 bail for each accused. On April 27, the case — which the Ombudsman filed before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on April 20 — was raffled off to the Sandiganbayan’s second division.

Source: Manila Times May 02, 2018 14:37 UTC