The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) has approved the filing of graft charges before the Sandiganbayan against two former Department of Agriculture (DA) officials over the alleged anomalous 2018 contract for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources' (BFAR) Integrated Marine Environment Monitoring System Project Phase II (PHILO Project).

Ordered charged in a resolution approved by Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires were former DA undersecretary for fisheries Eduardo B. Gongona and former BFAR national director Demosthenes R. Escoto.

Gongona and Escoto will be charged with two counts of violations of Section 3(e) of Republic Act (RA) 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; one  count of violation of Section 3(g) of RA 3019; and one count of violation of Section 3(j) of RA 3019.

Also ordered charged before the anti-graft court was Simon Tucker of SRT Marine Systems Solutions, Ltd.

On the other hand, the OMB dismissed the complaints against former DA assistant secretary Hansel O. Didulo and Richard Hurd of SRT “for lack of probable cause.”

The filing of the charges was recommended by Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer II Cezar M. Tirol II.

“Escoto, Gongona and Tucker had apparently schemed to ultimately award a contract to SRT-UK that is disadvantageous to the government. The series of events that came prior the award are circumstantial evidence proving that an irregularity had been committed and they are probably guilty thereof,” the OMB said in its resolution.

Under the BFAR’s PHILO Project that was supposed to be funded by the French government through a loan grant, vessel monitoring system (VMS) satellite transmitters and transceivers were sought to be purchased and used to monitor fishing vessels operating within and beyond the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

One of the requirements set by the French government in the loan agreement was that participants in the bidding process must be companies based in France.

After the first bidding process did not push through due to “an issue concerning the mode of procurement to be used for the Project”, BFAR held a second round of bidding on Dec. 20, 2017 and awarded the contract to one of the two bidders, SRT-France, but was later declared by the French Embassy as unqualified since it was incorporated in France only on Nov. 15, 2017 without manufacturing and engineering facilities as well as having no recorded activities in the European country..

SRT-France, a subsidiary of SRT-United Kingdom (SRT-UK), secured the contract on the third round after BFAR canceled the French loan, increased the budget for the procurement from P1,675,889,000 to P2,097,819,000, and raised the number of VMS transceivers to be procured from 1,800 to 5,000 units.

However, the OMB found that the total number of commercial fishing vessels that have to be monitored was 3,736 based on 2017 records which was “evidently an excess of 1,264 units.”

Despite being ineligible, the OMB said “Escoto and Gongona, while in the exercise of their official functions as Chairman of the BAC (Bids and Awards Committee), and as Head of the Procuring Entity, respectively, and in conspiracy with Tucker, clearly gave unwarranted benefit or advantage to SRT-France and SRT-UK.”

The OMB also found that the series of events that led to the selection of the winning bidder to be “circumstantial evidence proving that the contract for the PHILO Project was, at the very instance, meant by Escoto and Gongona to be awarded to SRT-UK.”

“The sudden creation of SRT-France a month before the second bidding; the permission to SRT-France to participate in the bidding despite knowledge that will have to depend on SRT-UK’s technical, professional and financial capabilities; the sudden termination of the award to SRT-France for some baseless reason; and the immediate request for the cancellation of the French Laon by DA-BFAR in order to remove the French-related conditions–all these paved the way for SRT-UK to participate in the bidding–a bidding for a project with an expanded scope and increased project cost,” the OMB also said in its resolution.

Earlier, the OMB had dismissed Escoto as BFAR national director.  The dismissal carries with it the cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and perpetual disqualification to hold public office.