The Office of the Ombudsman has sacked three officials of the National Irrigation Authority regional office in Bukidnon for multiple irregularities in the procurement of fertilizers worth P9.45 million in 2009.
Found guilty of gross neglect of duty were NIA division manager Editha Abdon, administrative and finance head Adelina Calonge, and principal engineer Leonila Tenestrante.
The Ombudsman imposed on them the penalty of dismissal from the service, perpetual disqualification from holding public office, forfeiture of retirement benefits, barred from taking the civil service exam and cancellation of civil service eligibility.
In June 2009, NIA-Bukidnon received P10 million for the implementation of the Department of Agriculture’s bio-organic fertilizer program.
From this fund, NIA purchased thousands of bags and liters of organic fertilizers and pesticides from 3K & C Enterprises, Dating Bayan Agro Industrial Corp., MLB Enterprises and EMP Feed Mix Manufacturing.
But the Ombudsman said the suppliers failed to meet the required product specifications and quality standards, projects were awarded without the benefit of public bidding, and supplier 3K was a business firm owned by Regina Salazar, wife of then NIA administrator Carlos Salazar.
Moreover, there was splitting of projects, and that no post-qualification proceedings were undertaken to ensure the capability of the suppliers to implement the project.
“The following respondents committed serious neglect of duty: Abdon and Calonge by certifying that the supporting documents for the first tranche disbursements were complete, when in fact this was not the case; and Tenestrante for failing to conduct real post-qualification of MLB as required by Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act),” the resolution read.
“As there was no justification for the resort to shopping, not to mention the apparent splitting of the P9,477,200, Abdon should not have permitted the disbursements from the fund. The same is true with respect to Calonge. As such Head, she also allowed this disbursement notwithstanding the lack of public bidding.”