Ex-PEA board to be charged with plunder?

Previous board members of the Public Estates Authority (PEA), who approved the contract to build 2.3 kilometers of the controversial President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard (PDMB), and officials of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) may be included in the plunder charges filed against the present board of directors now on leave.

Sulficio Tagud Jr., the PEA board member who exposed alleged overpricing in the boulevard’s construction, said he and his lawyers have "compiled some documents and sought expert testimonies" to link members of the old board to the alleged anomaly.

Speaking at a press conference in Quezon City yesterday, Tagud said he had to go through a "careful and deliberate gathering of evidence" to determine the involvement of the PEA board during the Estrada administration.

"I have not exonerated the old board contrary to earlier reports," he said. "Filing a case against anybody is a serious matter. I was able to file charges immediately against the members of the present PEA board and the management staff because I was a direct witness (to the alleged anomaly). It was easier to get the evidence."

Headed by Frisco San Juan as chairman, the old board was comprised of Carlos Doble, general manager; and Leo Padilla, Carmelita de Leon Chan, Salvador Malabarosa, Daniel Dayang, and Elpidio Damaso, members.

Rachel Pastores of the Public Interest Law Center said the complainants are planning to amend the complaint they have filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Pastores said GSIS officials violated their own investment guidelines to give PEA a "sweetheart deal" worth P1 billion.

"The maximum loanable amount that GSIS could extend to PEA or to any other solvent corporation should not exceed 10 percent of the borrower’s net worth," she said. "This was not met."

Pastores said the maximum loan that could have been given to PEA was P572.5 million, which was equivalent to its total net worth of P5.72 billion.

"There is legal uncertainty if PEA may validly mortgage the offered collateral which is a reclaimed land and if it could be validly foreclosed," she said.

Tagud said they verified an earlier STAR report that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) gave PEA a list of contractors, including JD Legaspi Construction, that constructed mostly buildings and not roads.

"We verified this information also and it turned out that all the contractors in the list were not qualified to build roads," he said.