Sandigan suspends 4 Parañaque execs

Four Parañaque City officials were suspended yesterday by the Sandiganbayan based on charges that they conspired with former mayor Joey Marquez in the alleged overpriced procurement of broomsticks in 1996 and 1997.

Suspended for three months by the anti-graft court were accountant Marilou Tanael, budget officer Flocerfida Babida, assistant information officer Ailyn Romea and special services assistant chief Ofelia Caunan.   

Justices Gregory Ong, Jose Hernandez and Rodolfo Ponferrada of the fourth division granted the request of prosecutors to suspend the local officials while the graft case was still undergoing trial, saying the indictment against them was valid.

"The requisites for a valid suspension having been satisfied, the suspension pending litigation of Tanael, Babida, Romea and Caunan must follow as a matter of course," they stated in a nine-page resolution.

The local officials were ordered to "cease and desist" from performing their functions for 90 days, apparently to prevent them from tampering with government records and possible harassment of other potential witnesses.

The Ombudsman, through its prosecuting arm, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, charged Marquez and the others for allegedly overpricing by as much as P1.2 million the government’s procurement of some 128,842 broomsticks from Jan. 1996 to Sept. 1997.

Government prosecutors based the charges on findings made by auditors from the Commission on Audit, who issued a report in May 2003 that concluded such procurement was "grossly overpriced," aside from the fact that bidding rules have not been complied with.

The other co-accused include private individuals Ricardo Adriano, owner of RDJ Enterprise, Realina Ty of Real Trading and Antonio Razo of Zaro Trading, all suppliers of broomsticks to the city government.