By EDMER F. PANESA
A graft case was filed yesterday with the Sandiganbayan against Assistant Postmaster General Antonio de Guzman in connection with an alleged irregular hauling contract he signed with Aboitiz One, Inc. in May 2004.
De Guzman was charged with violation of Section 3 (g) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Assistant Special Prosecutor Ma. Christina Marallag recommended a bail of P30,000 for De Guzman’s temporary liberty. Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio approved the filing of the case.
The case stemmed from a complaint earlier filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by Sim Mata Jr., a lawyer formerly detailed with the Legal Service of the Philippine Postal Corp.
Mata alleged that de Guzman caused undue injury to the government when he agreed to raise the mail freight cost from the original rate of P5 per kilo to P8 per kilo.
He reported that the P3.38-million contract was awarded to Aboitiz One posthaste and without holding any public bidding.
De Guzman signed the contract when he was appointed OIC-Postmaster General by then Postmaster General Diomedio Villanueva on Feb. 17, 2004, Mata said.
In his defense, de Guzman claimed that there was nothing wrong with the contract he signed with Aboitiz One.
He said the outsourcing of the mail freight for the Luzon Run was based on the recommendation of the Central Mail Exchange, which had conducted an in-house study on PPC’s delivery system.
De Guzman claimed that rather than causing undue injury to the government, the deal caused the PPC to save P6.11 million in one year.
The Ombudsman, however, upheld Mata’s allegation that the transaction was manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government as it noted that the P5 per kilo rate was in effect just in six months earlier or Oct. 31, 2003, when Villanueva terminated the original contract with Aboitiz to try the PPC’s own delivery system.
In its resolution, the anti-graft body said it is unreasonable that within that period, the freight rate could increase by 60 percent from P5 per kilo to P8 per kilo.
"There was no public bidding conducted thereby depriving the government of the best possible advantages in terms of price and the quality of services rendered," the Ombudsman ruled.
