The Sandiganbayan handed guilty verdicts to the former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Visayas director and 12 other individuals graft charges following the multibillion peso government supply contracts during the 2007 Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) summit held in Cebu.
According to the 174-page decision of the Seventh Division promulgated on December 2, ex-regional director Robert Lala, assistant regional director Marlina Alvizo, maintenance division chief Pureza Fernandez, and Bids and Awards Committee technical working group members Agustinito Hermoso, Luis Galang, Cresencio Bagolor, Ayaon Manggis, Marilyn Ojeda, and Teresa Bernido were sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment.
Also found guilty were former Lapu-Lapu City mayor Arturo Radaza, city engineer Julito Cuizon, assistant engineer Rogelio Veloso, and Isabelo Braza of Fabmik Construction and Equipment Supply Co. Inc.
Based on the records, Fabmik obtained the contract for the P83.965 million project to supply and install street lighting facilities in Lapu-Lapu City.
In 2012, a total of 677 lampposts which were unlighted and mostly vandalized were removed as Cebu City deemed them as eyesores and symbolizing corruption.
A complaint was received by the Ombudsman, saying that the project was overpriced, and issued a cease and desist order which directed the Department of Budget and Management and the DPWH against disbursing funds.
After comparing the cost indicated in the Program of Works and Estimates with those in the Bureau of Customs commercial invoices in 2008, the Ombudsman-Visayan concurred that the lampposts and other lighting facilities were highly overpriced.
In September 2020, the anti-graft court’s Sixth Division found Lala, Fernandez, Hermoso, and Gerardo Surla of Gampik Construction & Development Inc. guilty but cleared the others.
The four were each sentenced to imprisonment of six years and one month to up to eight years, with perpetual disqualification from public office.
