A senior official of the Land Bank of the Philippines on Thursday explained to the Sandiganbayan how national government agencies process payments to contractors, as one of the witnesses presented by the Ombudsman in cases filed against former congressman Zaldy Co and other officials.
Prosecutors presented their sixth witness, LandBank Edsa-NIA branch head Rodel Caliwag to establish that the Mimaropa regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways released to the Zaldy Co-linked Sunwest Inc. payment for an allegedly anomalous P289-million road dike project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
Caliwag was presented in the bail hearing of nine DPWH-Mimaropa officials, who are the co-accused of the former lawmaker in a malversation case over the road dike project in Oriental Mindoro.
The same DPWH executives challenged the alleged Mindoro dike “defects” during the hearing.
During cross examination, Caliwag said DPWH-Mimaropa processed the List of Due and Demandable Accounts Payable–Advice to Debit Account (LDDAP-ADA) through the bank’s Electronic Modified Disbursement System (EMDS).
Government agencies are mandated to pay suppliers using the Advice to Debit Account (ADA) system. The LDDAP-ADA forms part of the Disbursement Voucher as proof of payment.
However, Caliwag did not identify who received the funds involved in the transactions.
The court is set to hear the testimony of DPWH-Mimaropa Chief Administration Officer Cecilla Vicquerra next week, along with a representative from the Municipal Engineering Office of Naujan.
Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor is expected to testify in the first week of February.
DPWH-Mimaropa officials Gerald Pacanan, Gene Altea, Ruben Delos Santos Jr., Dominic Serrano, Lerma Cayco, Felisardo Casuno, Dennis Abagon, Juliet Calvo and Montrexis Tamayo earlier pleaded not guilty to charges of malversation and graft before two divisions of the anti-graft court.
Co and several others, who were issued arrest warrants and hold departure orders by the anti-graft court, remain at large.
