FIRST DIVISION
G.R. No. 228154, October 16, 2019
SIMEON GABRIEL RIVERA, MARILOU FARNACIO CANTANCIO, CESAR V. PRADAS, AND EDUARDO A. CLARIZA, PETITIONERS, v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, RESPONDENT.
D E C I S I O N
BERSAMIN, C.J.:
To convict for the violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), the State must allege in the information and establish beyond reasonable doubt during the trial that the accused acted in the discharge of his official, administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality or evident bad faith, or with gross inexcusable negligence in order to cause undue injury to any party, including the Government, or to give any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage, or preference. The mere allegation of such modes, not being evidence, is not competent as proof of guilt.
That on or about the period 17 July 2007 to 05 December 2007, or sometime prior or subsequent thereto, in the City of Manila, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, accused WILLIAM ICALINA RAMIREZ, a high-ranking public officer being then the Chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Planning Officer V CESAR VALERA PRADAS, in his capacity as Chairman of the PSC Bids and Awards Committee (PSC-BAC), Administrative Officer V SIMEON GABRIEL MUSON RIVERA, Planning Officer III MARILOU FARNACIO CANTANCIO, Engineer II EDUARDO ABAN CLARIZA, in their capacity as PSC-BAC Members, all being employees of the PSC, acting as such, while in the performance of their official duties and functions, taking advantage of their official position and committing the offense in relation to their office, through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence, conspiring and confederating with ROBERT P. MAGAWAY AND LAWRENCE ANDREW A. MAGAWAY, owners of Elixir Sports Company (Elixir), did then and there willfully, unlawfully and criminally give unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference to Elixir Sports Company with the PSC-BAC enabling Elixir to post its bid without competition by dispensing with the requirement of Section 21.2.1 in relation to Section 21.2.3 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations-A (IRR-A) of R.A. No. 9184 that the Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid (IAEB) be published or advertised in a newspaper of general circulation and notwithstanding the failure of Elixir to qualify as a bidder as it does not possess the eligibility criteria as required under Section 23.11 of IRR-A, R.A. No. 9184, that it should have been in existence for at least three consecutive years prior to the advertisement and/or posting of the IAEB, the PSC-BAC nonetheless resolved to declare Elixir as the Single Lowest Calculated and Responsive Bid for the supply of the sports equipment for the Philippine cycling athletes who would participate in the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, and with WILLIAM ICALINA RAMIREZ, despite non-compliance by the PSC-BAC with the provisions of IRR-A, R.A. No. 9184, still approving the PSC-BAC Resolution No. 034-2007 SEA Games declaring Elixir as the Single Lowest Calculated and Responsive Bids, thus resulting to an overprice of the said sports equipment of Elixir in the total amount of Six Hundred Seventy-One Thousand Two Hundred Pesos (Php671,200.00), thereby the accused public officers giving unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference to Elixir and which eventually caused undue injury to the government in the total amount of Six Hundred Seventy-One Thousand Two Hundred Pesos (Php671,200.00).
CONTRARY TO LAW.2
On 11 July 2007, the joint task force of the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission (POC-PSC) for the 24th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) endorsed to the PSC Board of Commissioners (PSC Board) the proposal of the Philippine Amateur Cycling Association (PCA). This pertained to the purchase of cycling equipment and uniforms for the national athletes competing in the 24th SEA Games, in the amount of Two Million Three Hundred Sixty-Five Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty-one and 64/100 (Php2,365,981.64).
On 17 July 2007, the PSC Board appropriated the amount of Php13,559,340.44 to cover the budgetary requirements for the purchase of various sports equipment to be used by national athletes for the SEA Games. Out of this amount, Php2,365,981.64 was allotted for Cycling.
On 31 July 2007, Manuel R. Ibay, Jr., (Ibay) the Acting Property Head of the PSC, prepared Purchase Request (PR) No. SG07-79-2007 for SEA Games-Cycling, with the approval of accused Pradas as Acting Executive Director of the PSC.
On 3 September 2007, the PSC Bids and Awards Committee (PSC-BAC) posted on the PhilGEPS an Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid (IAEB) for the Supply and delivery of Sports Training Equipment for 2007 SEA Games-Cycling, with an ABC in the amount of Php2,365,981.64. The IAEB was also posted on the PSC website and on the PSC-BAC's Bulletin Board located at the 2nd Floor of the Administration Building of the PSC.
On 12 September 2007, the PSC-BAC conducted a Pre-Bidding Conference for the Supply and Delivery of Sports Equipment for Various Sporting Events of the 24th SEA Games. The Minutes of the Pre-Bid Conference indicated the attendance of Elixir, represented by accused Lawrence Magaway, as the only supplier for cycling.
Likewise, only Elixir submitted a bid proposal in response to the PSC-BAC's invitation to bid. Elixir is a partnership between accused Robert Magaway and accused Lawrence Magaway. It was registered with the SEC on 20 November 2006.
On 10 October 2007, the PSC-BAC held the opening of bids, with Elixir's bid amounting to Php2,329,130.00. During post-qualification, an examination, validation and verification of all eligibility, technical capability and financial requirements submitted by Elixir allegedly showed that its bid was also responsive. Thus, the PSC-BAC issued Resolution No. 034-2007-SEA GAMES (Resolution) declaring Elixir as the bidder with the Single Lowest Calculated Bid (SLCB) and recommended the approval of the award of the contract for the Supply and Delivery of Training Sports Equipment for the 2007 SEA Games-Cycling in its favor.
On even date, accused Ramirez, who was then the Chairman of the PSC, approved the PSC-BAC's Resolution. He also signed the corresponding Notice of Award and Notice of Proceed. These notices bore the "conforme" of accused Lawrence Magaway, as Elixir's Manager.
x x x x
The final delivery was made on the same date. Thus, Elixir received the full payment in the amount of Php1,822,281.96.
After the SEA Games held in December 2007, a news article entitled "Cyclists Denounce Anomalies in Cycling Field" was published in the Manila Times on 28 February 2008. Said news article exposed the alleged anomalous purchase of supplies and equipment committed by PSC officials and employees for the 2007 SEA Games. This was the basis of the complaint filed by some members of the Philippine Cycling Team before the Field Investigation Office (FIO) of the Office of the Ombudsman.
On 06 March 2008, a special team was created by virtue of FIO Memorandum Circular No. 08-024. The team was tasked to conduct a fact-finding investigation relative to the complaint of the cyclists.
In the course of the investigation, the special team sent a letter to the Commission on Audit of the PSC (COA-PSC), requesting the conduct of a special audit regarding the procurement of equipment and other supplies of the PSC for the RP National Cycling Team for the 2007 SEA Games. In this Special Audit Report, the COA-PSC found no irregularities in the procurement of equipment and supplies conducted by the PSC. It was further observed that the bid quotation in the amount of Php2,329,130.00 was within the Php2,365,981.64 ABC.
The result of the investigation of the special team however contradicted the findings of the COA-PSC. In their investigation Report dated 24 April 2008, the special team found several violations of the rules of R.A. No. 9184 committed by PSC officials and employees. Particularly, they discovered that the required newspaper publication of the IAEB was not complied with, even though the ABC was more than Php2,000,000.00. Moreover, Elixir was not a qualified bidder since as a business entity it had only been existing for a year, and not three years as required under the law. The result of the market probe they conducted also confirmed that some of the items delivered were overpriced. Consequently, the FIO filed a complaint against several officials of the PSC and the owners of Elixir.
After the conduct of preliminary investigation, the Ombudsman found probable cause to file an Information for violation of Sec. 3(e) R.A. No. 3019 against herein accused.4
WHEREFORE, premises considered, judgment is hereby rendered as follows:
1. Accused Cesar V. Pradas, Simeon Gabriel M. Rivera, Marilou F. Cantancio, Eduardo A. Clariza, Roberto P. Magaway, Lawrence Andrew A. Magaway are found GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Sec. 3(e), and pursuant to Section 9 thereof, are hereby sentenced to suffer an indeterminate penalty of imprisonment from six (6) years and one (1) month as minimum to ten (10) years as maximum, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
2. Accused William I. Ramirez is hereby ACQUITTED for failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly, the hold departure order issued against him by reason of this case is hereby LIFTED and SET ASIDE, and his bond RELEASED, subject to the usual accounting and auditing procedures.
SO ORDERED.5
SEC. 3. Corrupt practices of public officers. — In addition to acts or omissions of public officers already penalized by existing law, the following shall constitute corrupt practices of any public officer and are hereby declared to be unlawful:
x x x x
(e) Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official, administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence. This provision shall apply to officers and employees of offices or government corporations charged with the grant of licenses or permits or other concessions.
x x x x
The second element enumerates the different modes by which means the offense penalized in Section 3 (e) may be committed. "Partiality" is synonymous with "bias" which "excites a disposition to see and report matters as they are wished for rather than as they are." "Bad faith does not simply connote bad judgment or negligence; it imputes a dishonest purpose or some moral obliquity and conscious doing of a wrong; a breach of sworn duty through some motive or intent or ill will; it partakes of the nature of fraud." "Gross negligence has been so defined as negligence characterized by the want of even slight care, acting or omitting to act in a situation where there is a duty to act, not inadvertently but willfully and intentionally with a conscious indifference to consequences in so far as other persons may be affected. It is the omission of that care which even inattentive and thoughtless men never fail to take on their own property." These definitions prove all too well that the three modes are distinct and different from each other. Proof of the existence of any of these modes in connection with the prohibited acts under Section 3 (e) should suffice to warrant conviction. (Italics is part of the original text)
Endnotes:
** Vice Associate Justice Francis H. Jardeleza, per Special Order No. 2712 dated September 27, 2019.
1Rollo, pp. 70-111; penned by Associate Justice Reynaldo P. Cruz, with the concurrence of Associate Justice Efren N. De La Cruz and Associate Justice Maria Cristina J. Cornejo.
2 Id. at 194-195.
3 Id. at 72.
4 Id. at 82-90.
5 Id. at 110-111.
6 Id. at 92-99.
7 Id. at 112-119.
8 Acronym for Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System.
9Rollo, pp. 92-93.
10 Id. at 552.
11Reyes v. People, G.R. Nos. 177105-06, August 4, 2010, 626 SCRA 782,793.
12 G.R. Nos. 50691, 52263, 52766, 52821, 53350 & 53397, December 5, 1994, 238 SCRA 655, 687.
13 Id.
14Reyes v. People, supra.
15Rollo, pp. 78-80; and 94-95.
16 Id. at 53-54.
17Garcia, Jr. v. Office of the Ombudsman, G.R. No. 197567, November 19, 2014, 741 SCRA 172, 189.
18Rollo, p. 96.
19Zapanta v. People, G.R. Nos. 192698-99, April 22, 2015, 757 SCRA 172, 193.
20People v. Claro, G.R. No. 199894, April 5, 2017, 822 SCRA 365, 367.
21Daayata v. People, G.R. No. 205745, March 8, 2017, 820 SCRA 58, 74.