PASAY CITY: The stench of anomalies can smell worse than garbage—and local officials won’t be smelling like roses as they go through a gauntlet of graft suits.
Mayor Antonio Calixto faces graft and bribery charges before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan for allegedly receiving kickbacks from garbage contractors who wanted to corner the city’s trash collection business.
Aside from Calixto, former Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad and city councilors, will be facing the music arising from garbage collection contracts which the city entered into from 2004 to 2006.
Investigation showed that Trinidad and Calixto, who was then vice mayor, appropriated P232.32 million for the disposal of city garbage.
The local government awarded the contracts for solid waste management to five private corporations: Solid Waste Alternative Tech, Excellent Transport Services, Inc., RM Maintenance Services, LEG Hauling Services Corp., and Greenline Envirotech Philippines, Inc.
The anti-graft agency said that the contracts were awarded for two years without public bidding.
At first, the city council passed a resolution on January 20, 2004 to void the contracts as it was approved without budget and the money earmarked for it was overpriced.
A month later, the councilors had a change of heart— passed a resolution allowing Trinidad to extend the contract for 90 days.
“On 13 February 2004, Trinidad, in the guise of restoring vital services pursuant to Republic Act 9184 [Government Procurement Reform Act], entered into contracts for a period of six months, instead of the authorized 90-day extension,” the Ombudsman noted.
Testimonies of Councilors Antonia Cuneta and Generoso Cuneta revealed that Pasay officials received cuts from the private contractors.
Trinidad allegedly got P520,000; Calixto had P260,000, while councilors got P130,000—an act which is sufficient for the Ombudsman to establish probable cause for bribery.
Records showed that Pasay City paid the contractors P278.46 million, way too higher than the appropriated amount.
When sought to explain, the Ombudsman said that the respondents “did not proffer sufficient explanation” on why they brushed aside the public bidding rules stipulated in RA 9184.
“To stress, the contracts involved millions of pesos. Respondent Trinidad would always ask for contract extensions and the Sanggunian would willingly give it in exchange for the monthly kickbacks . . . Calixto’s inaction could be easily explained by the glaring truth that he was part of the grand scheme,” the Ombudsman ruled.
The Ombudsman slapped graft charges against Trinidad, Calixto and city councilors Richard Advincula, Lexter Ibay, Jose Antonio Roxas, Noel Bayona, Arnel Regino Arceo, Editha Vergel De Dios, Marie Irish Pineda, and Greg Paolo Alcera.
Private contractors Ernesto Salvador of LEG Hauling Services; Joel Ycasas of Excellent Transport; Jeremy Paguia of Solid Waste; Ma. Marilou Baltazar of RM Maintenance; and Alexander Tantoco of Greenline would also face graft charges.
Additionally, Trinidad will face two more counts of graft alongside the private contractors.
Also, three counts of direct bribery were slapped against Trinidad, while Calixto and the other councilors were meted out with two counts.
