Peña charged with graft for overpriced cakes

MANILA, Philippines - Former Makati City vice mayor Bobby Brillante filed graft charges against acting Mayor Romulo Peña before the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday for the allegedly overpriced P8.6-million birthday cakes for the city’s elderly.

Brillante, a convenor of the group Campaign for Public Accountability (CPA), accused Peña of violating the Government Procurement Reform Act.

In his complaint, Brillante said the contract entered into between the city government and Goldilocks for the purchase of the birthday cakes was overpriced by P3 million.

He said Makati City is spending more than P8 million for smaller cakes compared to those previously given to the senior citizens.

Peña cancelled the city government’s contract with Timstate-Bakerite Food and Beverage Corp. for the cake supply when he assumed the post of suspended Mayor Jejomar Erwin ”Junjun” Binay in July.

Brillante said Makati City’s contract with Goldilocks was 35 percent higher although each cake costs only P280.

He said the cakes are now smaller in size at 9x2 inches compared to the 9x4 inches previously given to the elderly. 

In the previous contract with Bakerite, Brillante said the cakes cost P306 each.

The city government paid Goldilocks P8.6 million for the supply of 31,187 cakes to Makati’s elderly from Aug. 15 to Dec. 31.

‘Absurd, baseless’

Peña’s camp dismissed the filing of a graft complaint against him, describing it as “absurd and baseless.”

“The bidding process where Goldilocks was selected was aboveboard and opened to the public media for transparency,” Peña’s spokesman Gibo de los Reyes said.

“Obviously, this is a desperate attempt to smear the reputation of Mayor Peña in his efforts to cleanse the city hall procurement process,” Delos Reyes added.

Peña expressed confidence that the charges against him would be dismissed.