MANILA, Philippines – The decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to indict police officers involved in the allegedly anomalous procurement of police coastal craft worth P5 million has violated their rights to due process, a police official said yesterday.
Chief Supt. Asher Dolina, who was part of the Maritime Group Bids and Awards Committee that undertook the procurement of the police coastal craft, said they were indicted for charges not known to them.
Ombudsman investigators earlier said the boats were procured without public bidding and found several procurement violations.
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of Dolina; Chief Supts. Rizalino Tungala and Reynaldo Rafal; Sr. Supts. Ferdinand Yuzon, Thomas Abellar, Rico Payonga, Alex Sarmiento and Aleto Jeremy Mirasol; Supts. Michael Amor Filart, Job Marasigan, Leodegario Visaya and Henry Duque; Chief Insp. Juanito Estrebor; and PO3 Avensuel Dy for grave misconduct.
But Dolina maintained that a bidding was conducted.
He also expressed belief that he and other indicted police officers were able to prove the flimsiness of the allegations against them when they submitted counter-affidavits and verified position papers to Office of the Ombudsman.
“The ombudsman did not give us an opportunity to answer the allegations against us, wherein we were adjudged guilty,” he said in Filipino.
“If we were given the chance to answer these allegations against us, we can prove the there was bidding that occurred as evidenced by the video coverage that was taken during the bidding. The supplier was not preferred during the bidding because there were other suppliers who participated in the bidding,” he added.
He also maintained that the winning bidder submitted the necessary documents needed to qualify.
Dolina said he was saddened that the ombudsman issued a biased and unfounded decision that “violated our right to due process and right to speedy disposition of cases.”
He noted that the case against the police officers was pending before the ombudsman for more than three years, after which the ombudsman just ruled that there was no bidding.