MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 24 November) – The Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Cagayan de Oro City mayor Oscar Moreno of 20 cases of graft that he allegedly committed while serving as governor of Misamis Oriental.
The charges for alleged violations of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act were filed against Moreno and eight other Capitol officials in 2013, after Moreno finished his third term as governor and became mayor of Cagayan de Oro.
Moreno and his co-accused allegedly favored certain entities in procurement rental, violated procurement and bidding rules, and falsified public documents related to these transactions.
In its decision dated Nov. 24 and posted on its website on the same day, the Sandiganbayan noted that the prosecution “anchored its allegations on the Special Audit Report of the COA (Commission on Audit) Audit Team,” which conducted a special audit and investigation on the transactions of the Misamis Oriental provincial government involving the rental of heavy equipment from 2007 to 2012.
The anti-graft court was referring to the testimony of Myrna Ofngol, Service Chief of the Administration, Training, and Finance Services of COA Region 10. She led the special audit and investigation on the equipment rental of the provincial government from 2007 to 2012.
Ofngol’s audit team concluded that the disbursements for equipment rental were irregular and did not strictly observe the requirements under RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003.
It said, for instance, that the procurement of equipment rental for one Isuzu Elf Tanker and one trailer truck was “simulated or rigged on account of the denial of participation of some suppliers in the canvass for price quotations.”
But the anti-graft court said it found a “disparity” in the testimony of the prosecution witness on how they secured the bidding and supporting documents, casting “doubts as to the degree of precision and diligence by which the Audit Team conducted the special audit and investigation.”
In her open testimony, Ofngol said they obtained the documents from the Auditor’s Office of the provincial government. In her affidavit however she declared they got the documents from the Accounting Office and General Services Office of the province.
The court also concluded that, contrary to allegations by the prosecution, it found “credible the claim of the accused that a public bidding was conducted for the rental of the excavator and vibratory roller” based on the documentary evidence presented.
“While there may have been lapses in the conduct of public bidding under RA 9184 and its IRR-A, this does not necessarily make the accused liable for the commission of violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019, which requires the presence of all the elements in the commission of the acts constituting the offense as alleged in the information,” the Sandiganbayan decision reads.
Moreno served as mayor of Cagayan de Oro from 2013 to 2022. He again ran for governor of Misamis Oriental but lost. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)
