Thursday, December 13, 2007 (Philippines)

Meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council and Regional Development Council. Right: Presidential Management Staff Director General Cerge Remonde with Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia who heads both RPOC and RDC.(Sun.star photo/Alex Badayos) THE anti-graft office found grounds to upgrade into a formal criminal charge the complaint against Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and 19 others for the alleged overpriced purchase of computers in 2005. Based on the 10-page final evaluation report (FER) the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas released yesterday, Radaza and his co-respondents caused “undue injury to the government through manifest partiality” and “with evident bad faith.” Their actions, based on the document, constituted “gross inexcusable negligence” as manifested in the way they paid for and accepted the computers even though they were “not in accordance to the specifications and were also overpriced.” [full story]