Ex-Philippine National Railways general manager convicted of graft

The Manila Times file photo

THE Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division has convicted former Philippine National Railways (PNR) General Manager Manuel Andal of graft.

The court, in a 22-page decision, found Andal guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in Criminal Case SB-18-CRM-0511 and in Criminal Case SB-18-CRM-0513.

Criminal Case No. SB-18-CRM-0511 involved a contract with Pandrol Korea Limited. In this case, the court sentenced Andal to eight years and a month up to 12 years in prison, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Based on the court’s decision, PNR Board Resolution 05-2009, which approved the PNR-Bids and Awards Committee’s (BAC) recommendation to undertake direct contracting with Pandrol Korea, provided that resorting to direct contracting was subject to the issuance of a certification of the Transportation secretary.

The court said that “even a cursory reading of Resolution 05-2009 would show that the Board of Directors decided to merely preliminarily accept the BAC’s justification, while leaving the final determination on the correctness of said recommendation with the DoTC Secretary. No such Certification, however, was obtained before accused Andal entered into the Supply Contract with Pandrol Korea”.

The DoTC is the now-defunct Department of Transportation and Communications.

“Accused Andal’s argument that Executive Order (E.O.) 423 does not require him to obtain a certification from the DoTC Secretary before signing the contract with Pandrol — nor does it prohibit him from signing the contract without said Certification — has no merit”, the court said.

“The condition set by the PNR Board was not based on EO 423. Board Resolution 05-2009 does not contain any reference to the said EO”, it said.

The court also said that Andal was present at a Feb. 19, 2009 meeting.

“He cannot, therefore, claim that he was unaware of the express intent of the PNR Board of Directors for the DoTC Secretary to have a final say on the matter,” it said.

“In entering into the contract with Pandrol Korea without waiting for the Certification from the DoTC Secretary, accused Andal clearly gave unwarranted benefit and advantage to said company because he already committed the government to the transaction even without the DoTC Secretary’s review of the propriety of direct contracting,” the court said.

Criminal Case SB-18-CRM-0513 involved a contract with Nikka Trading.

In this case, the court sentenced him to eight years and a month up to 12 years in prison, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

“Accused Andal had no authority to enter into said contract, considering that PNR Board Resolution 05-2009 only authorized him to transact with Pandrol Korea. Worse, he entered into a direct contract with Nikka Trading when such mode of procurement had not been authorized, and while PNR still had a subsisting contract with Pandrol Korea for the same items,” the court said.

“In trying to justify his resort to another contract with Nikka Trading, accused Andal argues that the company’s rail fastening clips were of better quality, since it has two safety features while those of Pandrol Korea only had one,” the court said.

“Regardless of accused’s intentions, the fact is that he was not authorized to transact with Nikka Trading at the time he signed the contract, since neither the PNR Board or the PNR-BAC made any official determination at the said juncture that the PNR required the purchase of the same items,” the court said.

Nikka Trading, the court said, “was clearly given undue preference and unwarranted benefit when accused Andal entered into a direct contract with it even without BAC recommendation and PNR Board approval”.

The court ordered Andal to indemnify the Philippine government the amount of P86,505,000.

“When the contract with Nikka Trading was entered into, there was no signified need from PNR as an end-user, nor was there authority from the PNR Board of Directors for the purchase of the same items,” the court said.

The court said it was “clearly shown that the Government suffered damage in the amount of P86,505,000, which reflects the amount paid per the said contract”.

In Criminal Case SB-18-CRM-0511, the court said the government could not have suffered injury “since the PNR in fact signified its need for the purchased items and there is no evidence that PNR failed to receive them”.

Source: ManilaTimes