Yap, execs of govt firm face graft for P456-M deal
11/18/2009 | 05:03 PM
Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap and several officials of state-run National Agribusiness Corp. were charged with graft before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly rigging an auction for about P456-million worth of refrigeration equipment.
A senior official of the DA, however, said the complaint against Yap had no merit because he had nothing to do with the bidding. Nabcor officials also described the accusation as “outrageous".
Complainant Allan V. Ragasa claimed that Nabcor awarded the contract to lone bidder Integrated Refrigerated Systems Services (IRSS), “a company without track record to speak of."
“IRSS was incorporated a day before the pre-bidding conference which was last August 26. How can a company that was freshly incorporated win a public bidding for a multi-million project?" he said.
Ragasa also asked Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to impose a preventive suspension against Yap and other officials of the Agribusiness corporation.
Other Nabcor officials named as respondents in the graft complaint were Romulo Arevalo, Bids and Awards Committee chairman; Dennis Lozada, Winston Azucena, Meldody de Guzman, and IRSS executives Encarnita-Cristina Munsod, Alexander Leung, Lawrence Tan Son, Yao Ching Hsun, Stephen Vehemente, Marites Soriano and Jason Paz.
Ragasa’s company Sunvar Trading Inc. was disqualified following its failure to submit a toxicology report that was made a requirement a week before the bidding on August 26, rendering his company and four other bidders to be unable to comply with the addendum to the bidding’s terms of reference.
But he said a toxicology report would take weeks to be completed.
Nabcor allegedly approved and subsequently awarded the contract to IRSS “since they were the first to submit the toxicology report."
Before its incorporation, IRSS was formerly known as Triple 8 Agro Trading Inc., a firm previously engaged in trading but has shifted to storage, preservation and freezing of food products only last July.
Further, the complainant accused the government corporation of procuring overpriced equipment. Each refrigeration equipment is said to cost the government P4.647 million, double the price of regular refrigeration equipment produced locally.
Nabcor is buying as much as 98 units of ice-making machines with liquid quick freeze capability for distribution to fishing ports and other fishing communities.
But DA undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said that even as Nabcor is part of the Department of Agriculture it is operating on its own capacity being an government-owned corporation and has its own bids and wards committee, separate and independent from that of the Agriculture Department’s.
“In fact, we’re surprised that the Secretary is included (in the charges). I presume Nabcor and the Department will be filing proper pleadings before the Ombusman," Fondevilla said in behalf of Secretary Yap who is in Rome for a conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Nabcor officials maintained that contract for the procurement of refrigeration facilities is aboveboard and the public bidding was done in keeping with all processes required under the law.
“These outrageous accusations are without basis, far from the truth, hearsay and perjurious. Nabcor is seriously considering filing libel and perjury cases against these hecklers," said Nabcor spokesperson Kathyrin Pioquinto
The cold storage procurement project is part of President Arroyo's FIELDS program to improve postharvest facilities in the country. FIELDS is a government program that aims to increase the country's food productivity as well as reduce poverty incidence nationwide. -GMANews.TV
A senior official of the DA, however, said the complaint against Yap had no merit because he had nothing to do with the bidding. Nabcor officials also described the accusation as “outrageous".
Complainant Allan V. Ragasa claimed that Nabcor awarded the contract to lone bidder Integrated Refrigerated Systems Services (IRSS), “a company without track record to speak of."
“IRSS was incorporated a day before the pre-bidding conference which was last August 26. How can a company that was freshly incorporated win a public bidding for a multi-million project?" he said.
Ragasa also asked Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to impose a preventive suspension against Yap and other officials of the Agribusiness corporation.
Other Nabcor officials named as respondents in the graft complaint were Romulo Arevalo, Bids and Awards Committee chairman; Dennis Lozada, Winston Azucena, Meldody de Guzman, and IRSS executives Encarnita-Cristina Munsod, Alexander Leung, Lawrence Tan Son, Yao Ching Hsun, Stephen Vehemente, Marites Soriano and Jason Paz.
Ragasa’s company Sunvar Trading Inc. was disqualified following its failure to submit a toxicology report that was made a requirement a week before the bidding on August 26, rendering his company and four other bidders to be unable to comply with the addendum to the bidding’s terms of reference.
But he said a toxicology report would take weeks to be completed.
Nabcor allegedly approved and subsequently awarded the contract to IRSS “since they were the first to submit the toxicology report."
Before its incorporation, IRSS was formerly known as Triple 8 Agro Trading Inc., a firm previously engaged in trading but has shifted to storage, preservation and freezing of food products only last July.
Further, the complainant accused the government corporation of procuring overpriced equipment. Each refrigeration equipment is said to cost the government P4.647 million, double the price of regular refrigeration equipment produced locally.
Nabcor is buying as much as 98 units of ice-making machines with liquid quick freeze capability for distribution to fishing ports and other fishing communities.
But DA undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said that even as Nabcor is part of the Department of Agriculture it is operating on its own capacity being an government-owned corporation and has its own bids and wards committee, separate and independent from that of the Agriculture Department’s.
“In fact, we’re surprised that the Secretary is included (in the charges). I presume Nabcor and the Department will be filing proper pleadings before the Ombusman," Fondevilla said in behalf of Secretary Yap who is in Rome for a conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Nabcor officials maintained that contract for the procurement of refrigeration facilities is aboveboard and the public bidding was done in keeping with all processes required under the law.
“These outrageous accusations are without basis, far from the truth, hearsay and perjurious. Nabcor is seriously considering filing libel and perjury cases against these hecklers," said Nabcor spokesperson Kathyrin Pioquinto
The cold storage procurement project is part of President Arroyo's FIELDS program to improve postharvest facilities in the country. FIELDS is a government program that aims to increase the country's food productivity as well as reduce poverty incidence nationwide. -GMANews.TV
