By Czarina Nicole Ong Ki The Sandiganbayan First Division has acquitted former Cuyo Mayor Andrew Lim Ong of Palawan of his graft charge in connection with the reportedly anomalous purchase of a pump boat back in 2011. Sandiganbayan (MANILA BULLETIN) Ong was cleared of the violation of Section 3(e) of R.A. 3019, also known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, alongside private individual Rellie Giducos Alis. Ong was initially accused of giving unwarranted benefits and advantage to Alis by pre-selecting the latter and awarding to him the contract for the purchase of P200,000 pump boat. This was done without public bidding and the active participation of the Bids and Awards Committee. In its ruling, the anti-graft court said that the municipality of Cuyo has always been burdened by the issue of illegal fishing. One of the reasons why illegal fishing was rampant was because of the lack of appropriate motorized boat which could be used for seaborne patrol. To address this issue, Ong launched a campaign in 2010 against illegal fishing. One of his temporary solutions was to borrow motorized boats from the residents of Cuyo, and the municipality would pay for the fuel. This did not work in the long-run, because the borrowed boats' horsepower were no match against the motorboats being used by fishermen engaged in illegal fishing. In January 2011, Alis presented his motorized boat, which he named "Mark-1." Cuyo's officer-in-charge, Joel Magbanua, was so impressed by what he saw that he asked to borrow it for the municipality. Asis agreed. It was borrowed, returned, and borrowed again for several times until the pump boat was never returned to its owner. When Alis asked for it in March, Magbanua said it was being used by the Cuyo Police. Alis then said he would charge P2,000 a day for the rent of his pump boat. When Ong learned that the police were being charged P2,000 per day for the use of the pump boat, he instructed Magbanua to negotiate the rental fee. On May 4, Ong even received a letter requesting the purchase of one pump boat for the police. He later consulted with the bids and awards committee (BAC) if the municipality could just reimburse Alis for the cost of building the pump boat instead of paying rent for it. Ong was told that direct contracting was acceptable in this case because there were no builders of the same kind of pump boat in Cuyo aside from Asis. The court said in its ruling that Ong and Alis did not act with manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence when the pump boat was purchased. "Indeed, there is no showing that accused Ong or Alis, or both of them acted with bias which excites a disposition to see and report matters as they are wished for rather than as they are," the decision read. "Neither is it shown that in the transaction in question, the accused acted with 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 added. The court likewise failed to see how the purchase caused undue injury to the government. True, the paint of the pump boat had already faded by September 16, 2011. However, the P200,000 paid to the government for a pump boat with a tonnage of 1.6 and with a 130-horsepower engine "appears to be to the advantage of the municipality," the court further ruled. The 35-page decision was written by Chairperson Efren De La Cruz with the concurrence of Associate Justices Geraldine Faith Econg and Edgardo Caldona.