The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend five election officials over the allegedly overpriced P690-million contract for ballot secrecy folders for the May 2010 elections. The court's Special Fifteenth Division said the Ombudsman did not commit grave abuse of discretion in ordering on July 29 last year the suspension of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members:
Maria Lea Alarkon, BAC chief; Allen Francis Baya; Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal; Martin Niedo, and Antonio Santella. The CA said it found "no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Ombudsman in issuing the assailed order." "A preventive suspension is not a penalty and such an order, when issued by the Ombudsman, is accorded the highest deference unless the order violates Section 24 of Republic Act No. 6070 [the Ombudsman Act of 1989]," said the appellate court. The five officials questioned the Ombudsman's order, saying they were preventively suspended without granting them a hearing or gathering evidence to prove the officials' guilt. However, the CA said "contrary to the petitioners' claim... the Ombudsman, in issuing the assailed order, made a careful assessment of the facts and circumstances of the case." The Ombudsman's July 2010 order also directed the suspension of Comelec Executive Director Jose Tolentino but he was not included in the case filed with the CA. CA Associate Justice Magdangal de Leon penned the decision, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Mario Lopez and Manuel Barrios. 'Overpriced' folders The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the suspension of the five Comelec officials for supposedly violating Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Comelec's BAC allegedly gave One Time Carbon (OTC) Paper Supply, the company that won the bidding for the folders, advance copies of the requirements for the secrecy folders. The Comelec later aborted the contract after allegations of overpricing cropped up. The Comelec chairman at that time, Jose Melo, said the Comelec and the BAC committed lapses in awarding the contract to OTC for the purchase of 1,815,000 pieces of 25-inch long ballot secrecy folders for P690 million. Each folder would have cost P380. After the Ombudsman ordered their suspension, the embattled officials later brought the matter to the CA and asked for a temporary restraining order to block the enforcement of their suspension. They said the Ombudsman committed grave abuse of discretion by meting out the suspension order without giving them the chance to file their counter-affidavits. Earlier, in August last year, the CA's Special Fifteenth Division denied their petition for a TRO, saying there was "no cogent and compelling reason" to give the officials injunctive relief. – VVP, GMANews.TV 
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