Ombudsman affirms ex-BFAR exec’s dismissal

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has junked the bid of former Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) national director Demosthenes Escoto to reverse his dismissal from office over alleged irregularities in the awarding of a P2.1-billion contract for vessel monitoring system (VMS) transceivers to a British company in 2018.

In an eight-page order, Ombudsman Samuel Martires also dismissed the motions for reconsideration filed by Escoto, former agriculture undersecretary and BFAR national director Eduardo Gongona, and British national Simon Tucker of SRT Marine Systems Solutions, to reverse their graft indictment over the alleged anomalies in the VMS project.

The Ombudsman said Escoto’s probable guilt and liability have been established through his involvement in a scheme to favor SRT-France and SRT-UK, despite the former’s ineligibility to participate in the bidding process.

This was done despite the French embassy in the Philippines’ declaration of SRT-France’s lack of qualifications due to the absence of records of manufacturing or engineering facilities in France.

“The sudden creation of SRT-France a month before the second bidding; the permission to SRT-France to participate in the bidding despite knowledge that will have to depend on SRT-UK’s technical, professional and financial capabilities; the sudden termination of the award to SRT-France for some baseless reason; and the immediate request for the cancellation of the French loan by DA-BFAR in order to remove the French-related conditions – all these paved the way for SRT-UK to participate in the bidding – a bidding for a project with an expanded scope and increased project cost,” a previous resolution by the Ombudsman read.

The complaint was filed by lawyer James Mier Victoriano after the contract to supply VMS transmitters and transceivers for BFAR’s Integrated Marine Environment Monitoring System Project Phase II (PHILO Project) was awarded to SRT-UK.

The PHILO project aimed to strengthen BFAR’s capability to monitor the country’s maritime resources by requiring all commercial fishing vessels to install a monitoring system showing their location at sea.

The supply contract was initially awarded to an unqualified bidder, SRT-France, before it was cancelled and awarded to the parent company, SRT-UK.

Escoto argued against the findings of the Ombudsman’s earlier investigation, saying there was lack of evidence.

The Ombudsman said Escoto’s actions “were all instrumental in the success of the anomalous scheme that led to the award of the contract to SRT-UK. No amount of failure on the part of the complainant to include other individuals in the charge could undermine that.”