‘Sereno paid P12 M to IT consultant in 5 years’

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC), through instructions from the office of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, paid a total of P12 million to a female information technology (IT) consultant for five years’ service. 

 This was among the startling discoveries made by the committee on justice during the resumption of hearing yesterday on the impeachment complaint against Sereno at the House of Representatives.

The high tribunal purportedly paid roughly about P2.4 million a year – or P200,000 a month – to its IT consultant Helen Macasaet. 

 Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez wanted to know from SC officials the “real extent” of Macasaet’s work in improving the IT network of not just the SC, but the entire judiciary as well, demanding that “monthly assessment reports” be given to the committee. 

 He said they need documents that would show Macasaet’s “accomplishments.”  

 Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva, head of the SC bids and awards committee (BAC), testified before the committee of Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali that Macasaet’s consultancy fee was the “highest for an individual contract.” 

 Villanueva disclosed that Macasaet was initially given a P100,000 monthly fee that was later upgraded to P250,000 which they did not sanction but ended up in a “negotiated procurement,” where the “main criteria was the trust and confidence of the procuring agency” or end-user, who was Sereno. 

 The BAC, according to Villanueva, considered two other names for the position but the name of Macasaet was supplied by the Office of the Chief Justice, which is the procuring office along with the Management Information System Office (MISO).

 Villanueva also testified that the BAC only considered the October 2013 and May 2014 contracts of Macasaet, who served at the SC from 2013 to 2017. Subsequent renewals were done by Sereno’s office.

 Villanueva revealed Macasaet’s consultancy contract was renewed six times, each time for P1.5 million, or a total of P9 million. There were other payments also made to the IT consultant.  

 Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia noted that Villanueva’s testimony belied the claims of Sereno that Macasaet’s contract was endorsed and approved by the 15-man SC, since the hiring has always been done solely by the office of the chief magistrate. 

 For his part, Umali read a report made by a SC committee that conducted an investigation on the issue, noting that procedural requirements in the Government Procurement Act (Republic Act 9184) have not been fully complied with in Macasaet’s case. 

 He said the consultancy fees for the first to seventh contract of services of Macasaet exceeded the ceiling of compensation under Circular 2000-11 of the Department of Budget and Management.

 Another finding was that there was “no basis to determine the reasonableness of the fees on the consultancy services for lack of data” on prevailing July 2017 market rates for IT individual consultants with the same qualifications and expertise as those of Macasaet.

 Among the recommendations were to declare as “void” the eight contracts for having been procured not in accordance with RA 9184 and other pertinent rules and regulations and violative of other statutory rules and auditing rules on certificate of availability of funds. 

 The SC committee likewise ordered Macasaet to “pay the difference.”

Associate justices’ SALNs sought

In a related development, a group advocating good governance has asked the SC for copies of the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of five of its associate justices who testified in the impeachment hearing against Sereno.

The PinoyAksyon for Governance and the Environment (PAGE) yesterday requested for the SALN copies of Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Noel Tijam, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Francis Jardeleza for the last 10 years.

 “May we respectfully request for copies of the annual SALN in the last 10 years of the following members of the SC. For those who have not served the high court for over 10 years, may we request for copies of the SALN for the period that they were appointed associate justices,” PAGE convenor Ben Cyrus Ellorin said. 

“Transparency and accountability are vital pillars of good governance. The freedom of information on the other hand empowers the public to participate in efforts to make government officials transparent and accountable,” he added.

The group filed its request before SC Clerk of Court Felipa Anama.

No meddling

Meanwhile, Sereno’s camp yesterday denied that she meddled in the dispute between members of the House of Representatives and the justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) in connection with the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus against six Ilocos Norte officials. 

“The Chief Justice did not advise Justice (Andres) Reyes (Jr.) what particular legal remedy or petition the three CA justices should take. Neither did she assure Justice Reyes of a favorable outcome on such a petition by telling him that she would take care of that petition in the Supreme Court,” Jojo Lacanilao, one of Sereno’s spokespersons, said. 

“In fact, when the Ilocos 6 appealed before the Supreme Court to stop the hearing before the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice inhibited herself from hearing and deciding the case,” he added. 

CA Associate Justices Stephen Cruz, Edwin Sorongon and Nina Valenzuela were subject of a show cause order from the House of Representatives for issuing a ruling in favor of the employees. – With Evelyn Macairan