BUSINESSMAN Crisologo Saavedra yesterday said the final payment amounting to P15.7 million to Triton Communications Corp. was not only malversation of government funds, but also caused “severe injury” to the credibility and effectiveness of the Office of the Ombudsman.
Saavedra said the last payment for the surveillance cameras and communications project for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last January was “in deliberate defiance” of the agreement among the anti-graft office, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 and Triton.
A voucher dated April 10 paved the way for the payment, but district engineer Robert Lala and engineer Pureza Fernandez were already suspended when they signed it, Saavedra added.
Despite the final payment, Saavedra said, he will pursue the case he filed before the anti-graft office.
Triton managing director Sonny Tacardon, for his part, said the vouchers were signed by authorized signatories, following the inspection report, dated April 4, by members of the DPWH monitoring team.
The team had conducted the technical inspection with representatives of the Philippine National Police-Communications and Electronics Service (PNP-CES).
“Since there was no cease-and-desist order from the court or from the ombudsman, there was no more legal roadblock or impediment to withhold payment, notwithstanding the objection of Saavedra,” Tacardon said.
Saavedra also said that Senior Supt. Lani-o Nerez was authorized to sign documents in relation to the final payment of the project, not Police Chief Insp. Gerry Leopoldo.
But Tacardon said it was Chief Supt. Ireneo B. Manaois, director of the PNP-CES, who signed the documents, and not Leopoldo.
During a radio program hosted by broadcaster Leo Lastimosa, Tacardon confronted Saavedra about the latter’s allegation that Triton paid off DPWH and PNP officials so it could get the contract.
But Saavedra said he only presumed that it happened because prior to the cancellation of the contract between DPWH and his company, Cebesos Development Corp., DPWH officials asked him for P15 million in grease, which he refused. DPWH officials have denied the allegation. (EOB)
