黑料社

MANILA, Philippines鈥擜 Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cainta, Rizal dismissed on Feb. 7 the motions to quash filed by two former officials of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) and a businessman who are charged with violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Judge Don Ace Mariano Alagar of Branch 141 of the Cainta RTC said in a six-page resolution on Feb. 7 that the graft charges鈥攖wo counts under Section 3(e) and one count each under Sections 3(g) and 3(j) of Republic Act (RA) 3019鈥攕hould proceed to trial after finding no legal basis for dismissal.

Eduardo Gongona and Demosthenes Escoto, who both served as BFAR national director, previously asked the court to dismiss the charges, asserting that the Ombudsman took nearly three years to file the case鈥攂eyond the two-year limit for complex cases set under OMB Administrative Order (AO) No. 1 of 2020.

But the RTC said the Office of the Ombudsman, which filed the cases, did not commit inordinate delay in its investigation, rejecting the claim of the two former BFAR executives that their right to a speedy disposition of cases was violated.

鈥淎s the case was complex and involved voluminous records, the OMB completed the preliminary investigation, including resolutions on the motions for reconsideration, within 24 months as provided in OMB AO No. 1 of 2020,鈥� the resolution stated.

READ: Ex-BFAR execs post bail for VMS-related graft raps

The court pointed out, too, that Gongona and Escoto failed to assert their right to a speedy disposition of the case, saying that 鈥渢hey must file the appropriate motion upon the lapse of the statutory or procedural periods [鈥�] otherwise, they are deemed to have waived their right to speedy disposition of the case.鈥�

With the motions denied, the arraignment and pre-trial of the two former BFAR executives, as well as UK-based SRT Marine Systems CEO Simon Tucker, are set for February 26, allowing the prosecution to present evidence on the alleged irregular awarding of the Vessel Monitoring System contract.

Looking back, the cases stemmed from allegations that Gongona, Escoto, and Tucker conspired in 2018 to award a P2.09-billion VMS contract to SRT-UK, despite the company鈥檚 prior disqualification from a French-funded bidding process.

The original project, backed by a P1.6-billion French government loan, required bidders to be French or in a joint venture with a French firm. However, the French Ministry of Finance later disqualified SRT-France, a subsidiary of SRT-UK, citing British ownership and lack of operational facilities in France.

But rather than rebidding the project, Philippine officials restructured the deal, secured local funding, and expanded the contract to P2.09 billion, compelling the government to procure 5,000 vessel tracking devices, up from the originally planned 3,736 units, increasing costs and government obligations.

The court also found no indication that the complaint was politically motivated or maliciously prosecuted.

鈥淭here is no allegation in the pleadings of accused-movants before the OMB and their motions to quash that the prosecution of this case was politically motivated or prosecuted for malice or both,鈥� the ruling stated.

Last month, Gongona and Escoto each posted bail worth P360,000.