THE Sandiganbayan has sentenced former Lapu-Lapu City mayor Arturo Radaza and 13 others, including former high-ranking officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), to six to 10 years in prison after they were found guilty of graft and corruption in connection with the anomalous procurement of overpriced lampposts during the country’s hosting of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in 2007 in Lapu-Lapu City.
In a 174-page decision promulgated on Dec. 2, 2022, the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division found Radaza and 12 other officials guilty of violating Section 3 of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Aside from Radaza, also convicted were former DPWH Central Visayas director Robert Lala, former DPWH 7 assistant director and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairperson Marlina Alvizo, former acting DPWH 7 Maintenance Division chief Pureza Fernandez, former DPWH 7 Maintenance Division assistant chief and BAC member Cresencio Bagolor, fellow BAC members Agustinito Hermoso, Luis Galang and Restituto Diano; DPWH Technical Working Group (TWG) members Ayaon Manggis, Marilyn Ojeda and Teresa Bernido; and Lapu-Lapu City engineers Julito Cuizon, Fernando Tagaan Jr., and Rogelio Veloso.
Isabelo Braza, president and chairman of the board of FABMIK Construction and Equipment Supply Co. Inc., who won the bid to provide the overpriced lampposts was also convicted.
Aside from the six- to 10-year prison time, Radaza and the 12 officials were also perpetually barred from holding public office.
Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta said government prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman were able to prove the guilt and complicity of all the accused.
“The prosecution was able to establish the presence of collusion between and among the accused in making it appear that the preparation for, the procurement, and the award of P83,935,000 contract to FABMIK was regular, proper, and legal, through a bogus negotiated procurement done with manifest partiality in favor of Braza and evident bad faith to the detriment of the public,” the decision read.
The Ombudsman filed the case against Radaza and other officials in 2008 after investigating the P83.9 million contract awarded to FABMIK for the supply and installation of 199 decorative lampposts from Barangay Punta Engaño in Lapu-Lapu City along the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge for the 12th Asean Summit held in Cebu.
According to graft investigators, the cost of the project should have been only P65,889,109.99.