A FORMER government official yesterday asked the anti-graft office to look into alleged irregularities surrounding the Mandaue City government’s recent purchase of handguns for local cops.

Edward Ligas, formerly of the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor, said the guns could be overpriced since the amount the City paid for each, as revealed to him by a “source,” was way higher than the cost of the unit at a local gun store.

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“It has been more than a year that this transaction had been consummated. Worse, taxpayers, especially the (residents of Mandaue), do not know about the transaction,” he said.

But lawyer Francisco Amit, adviser to Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, said Ligas is only trying to impress the political camp of Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu province, 6th district) whose group Ligas has joined.

Moreover, he said, the complaint was based on nothing but hearsay and had no other intent except to sling mud the mayor’s way.

Mudslinging

“Pag-buling buling lang sa mayor,” Amit quipped, adding that each gun cost the City only P24,082.90 and is even lower than Ligas’s figures.

Ligas implicated Cortes, City Administrator Briccio Boholst, City Budget Officer Lamberto Marababol, Human Resource Management Office head Eutiquio Sanchez and the members of the Bids and Awards Committee in the complaint.

Laws violated?

He cited them for violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, as well as the Anti-Red Tape Act.

The officials, he said, were responsible for the purchase of several .45 caliber pistols from a Chinese firearm maker not long ago.

He said he first heard about the purchase last August, when he spoke to Mandaue Police Chief Orlando Ualat. The guns haven’t been given to cops, pending the local police’s completion of a Proficiency Training Program that began only last April.

But two cops already have these firearms. Other than them, some of the guns were also reportedly given to barangay captains and the mayor’s bodyguards.

Ligas said he tried to confirm the information by going to the BAC but was given the runaround. He said he was asked to write a letter but, from Aug. 13 to Oct. 26,
nothing happened.

Cheaper?

“According to my source, the City had bought 45 pieces of .45 cal. high-capacity (Norinco 1911 guns) from China. Each pistol was pegged at P60,000,” he said.

But the guns, he added, only cost P25,000 at a gun store plus P15,500 for papers, for a total of P40,500.

Amit said a total of 65 guns were bought and not all were issued to the police. The barangay captains, he explained, were given some as they, too, take part in keeping peace and order.

The City also issued firearms to a prosecutor who is concurrent Traffic Management Director.

When asked why Ligas was given the runaround, Amit said Ligas gave a ridiculous reason when he wrote the letter asking to be furnished a copy of the purchase order.

In his letter, Ligas said friends who also want to buy the same gun for “operations in their respective localities” needed the information.