"HOW could I not see them receiving the bribe money, when the enclosure of the office was made of transparent glass and the Venetian blinds were open at the time," said special investigator Abner Dotimas of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) regional office.

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He was referring to Assistant City Engineer Elpidio Garabiles and Engineer Richard Benjamin Lardizabal, who were arrested in an entrapment operation conducted in the City Engineer's Office last August 6.

"Although they have already installed a tall bookshelf there afterwards, it was not there yet when the entrapment happened and there were no things that blocked my view of the transaction between them while it was transpiring," he explained.

Dotimas said he saw the complainant handed the envelope containing the marked money to Lardizabal.

After receiving the envelope, he said, Lardizabal put it down on the table and pushed it towards Garabiles. Thereafter, Garabiles picked up the envelope and kept it in his drawer."

"Being the first to approach Garabiles, I saw him in the act of keeping the envelope containing the marked money, as in fact, he has already kept the same in the drawer of his table and was removing the key to the drawer lock. When I asked Garabiles about the envelope, the latter became nervous; but just the same voluntarily opened the drawer of his table, which revealed the envelope containing the marked money," he said.

Both Garabiles and Lardizabal only have until November 24 to submit their respective comments on the complainant's reply-affidavit and the NBI's supplementary affidavit to the City Prosecutor's Office.

"After that, Judge Antonio Esteves (of the city's Regional Trial Court Branch 5) only gave Assistant City Prosecutor Victor Dizon until December 6 to issue a resolution on the charges," said Dotimas.

The two engineers were caught receiving marked money allegedly extorted from contractor Rody Echague in exchange for the release of the retention fund for the repair and restoration project involving a riprap wall in Country Club Village.

"Criminal Case number 28588-R for direct bribery, involving the same parties and related acts of the accused, was transmitted to this (court) for consolidation with Criminal Case number 28587-R," Esteves said.

In his counter-affidavit, Lardizabal denied that he demanded and received money from the contractor.

"The complainant together with his principal resorted to dirty tactics leading to the purported entrapment as they were desperate to cause the release of the retention fund of said project despite the fact they incurred deficiencies and liabilities in the works they conducted," he explained.

"Contrary to what was stated (by Echague), I never touched nor took hold of the envelope which was being handed to me. When Rody realized that I would not touch the envelope, he placed it on the table of Engineer Garabiles and excused himself. That if indeed I touched the envelope, my fingerprints would be evident on it - a fact which was not alleged nor proven by the complainant and the arresting officers," added Lardizabal.

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(November 20, 2008 issue)
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