SC wants progress report on graft case vs Comelec, Mega Pacific officials

The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the Office of the Ombudsman to submit a regular progress report of its investigation on officials and private individuals involved in the nullified poll computerization project of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in 2004.

In an eight-page resolution, the SC ordered the Ombudsman to submit its first report "on or before June 30 and every three months thereafter until the matter is finally disposed of."

The SC warned the Ombudsman, along with the concerned parties involved in the nullified contract, that they might face contempt for failure to comply with the order.

The high court earlier cited the Comelec and the petitioners Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party for their "brazen disobedience to (the court’s) lawful directives," dismissing the Ombudsman’s contention that it has no duty to submit a report over the Comelec-Mega Pacific controversy being an independent Constitutional body.

On Jan. 13, 2004, the Supreme Court ruled the contract between Comelec and Mega Pacific involving the purchase of about 2,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) was void and invalid.

The Supreme Court decided to void the deal after discovering that Comelec violated its own bidding rules. Mega Pacific was also ordered to return the P1.3 billion paid over the contract.

The high tribunal ordered the Ombudsman to determine the criminal liability of the Comelec officials and the private individuals involved in the voided contract with Mega Pacific.

The Court stressed before the Ombudsman its order is "a directive" imbued with a "mandatory tenor," not a referral. — James Mananghaya