Sandigan junks Bistek’s plea for dismissal

The Sandiganbayan has denied the plea of former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista and ex-administrator Aldrin Cuña to dismiss their P32.1-million graft case in connection with alleged anomalies in the procurement of a digital permit management system in 2019.

Bautista and Cuña filed separate motions for reconsideration in an attempt to convince the court to acquit them of the crime charged, citing deficiencies in the evidence submitted by the prosecution, whIch included a conspiracy to defraud the government.

The anti-graft court in January found the two guilty of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) for awarding the full payment to Geodata Solutions Inc. for an online occupational permitting and tracking system (OOPTS) to the tune of P32,107,912.50 despite the system being non-operational and glitch-ridden.

Court records showed that Bautista and Cuña rushed the release of the payment to Geodata two days before their term ended in June 2019 even though the delivery had yet to be made, in violation of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

Bautista served as Quezon City mayor for three consecutive terms--from July 2010 to June 2019 — and was succeeded by incumbent Mayor Joy Belmonte.

Investigation revealed that the local government could not launch the OOPTS until two years later in 2022 after it hired another IT contractor to rebuild the application.

In his defense, Bautista contended that he should not be held accountable because at the time the prosecution found that the OOPTS was inoperable — in July 2019 to 2021 — he was already out of the office.

Court records showed that Bautista and Cuña rushed the release of the payment to Geodata two days before their term ended in June 2019 even though the delivery had yet to be made, in violation of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

Besides, he said, he had no knowledge of any irregularity in the delivery, testing, and acceptance of the OOPTS.

The actor-turned-politician also argued that the issue could have been resolved if only the new Quezon City administration had filed claims for warranties outlined under the supply and delivery agreement.

For his part, Cuña, the “final signatory” in the release of the check to Geodata, argued that his only role was to sign the procurement documents which, he claimed, was under his authority.

In denying the petitions, the Sandiganbayan pointed out that no matter how much they protested that they were no longer in office at the time Geodata received the payment, or that glitches and errors arose, the issue precisely centered on their official acts while they were in office.

“There was no cogent reason for the accused to rush the approval of payment in mere days when they knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that there were missing deliverables, especially the software application,” the court said. “That they still authorized payment only goes to show their manifest partiality to make the payment to Geodata before their term of office ended on 30 June 2019.”

Moreover, the Sandiganbayan contended that Bautista and Cuña deliberately disregarded “red flags” in the deliveries, including the absence of a crucial component — the software application — which was required to make the OOPTS function.

“These precisely were the red flags that should have stopped the accused, had they acted in good faith, from jumping the gun and authorizing payment to the supplier on 28 June 2019,” the court said.

The Sandiganbayan also rejected Bautista’s attempt to blame the next city administration for not providing the digital infrastructure needed to launch the OOPTS within a six-month period.