‘New evidence could spell deeper trouble for mayor’

Malabon City opposition councilors yesterday said new evidence they have uncovered against Mayor Amado Vicencio may have stalled the latter’s arraignment in the graft and corruption case they filed involving the proposed P122-million new city hall building, but were optimistic the new development could put the mayor in even deeper trouble.

Councilors Edilberto Torres and Chiqui Roque-Villaroel said the new evidence could, in all likelihood, lead to his eventual "falling in disgrace."

Vicencio’s arraignment was reset by the Sandiganbayan for May 28 when government prosecutors filed a supplemental motion to include the new evidence involving the High Peak Construction and Development Corp. (HPCDC), one of the alleged bidders in the project cited by Vicencio.

HPCDC president Richard Dionisio, in a disclaimer, denied his firm’s participation in the bidding of the proposed P122-million city hall project that would have started in 1999.

Vicencio and his co-respondents, Lida Sarmiento, Pio Dadula, city engineer Virdeo Cruz, Councilor Lauro Borja and city treasurer Ernesto Pabustan, all members of the local Pre-qualification, Bids, and Awards Committee (PBAC), were supposed to be arraigned last week on charges of violating Section 3 of Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Torres and Roque-Villaroel said the mayor could have already been suspended after last week’s supposed arraignment but they sought a postponement to include the testimony of Richard Dionisio, HPCDC president and general manager, which they said could "finally pin the mayor down."

"Actually we have been patiently waiting for that arraignment but we have to be more patient because we believe the new evidence will further strengthen our claims of the mayor’s and his co-respondents’ guilt," Roque-Villaroel said.

In a letter to Torres, Dionisio, contrary to what the PBAC reported in its resolution (99-09 Series of 1999), said he had no knowledge, nor authorized or instructed anybody to participate in the bidding for the project. The resolution showed only two bidders, namely, HPCDC and the "joint venture" PMGI-SERG Construction, the subsequent winning bidder.

The company official further said that his firm’s legal officers are now working on the filing of legal action against any person responsbile for the "hoax transaction."