MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan on Monday, January 20, found former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista and his administrator Aldrin Cuña guilty of graft in relation to an anomalous P32.11-million process automation system for city hall.
Bautista, also known as “Bistek” from his actor days, and Cuña have been sentence to six to 10 years imprisonment for approving the full payment of P32,107,912.50 to Geodata Solutions Inc. despite the firm’s failure to deliver a working Online Occupational Permitting and Tracking System.
The two are also perpetually disqualified from holding any government office.
The Fifth Division of the anti-graft court voted 2-1 to convict the former officials. Associate Justice and Division chairperson Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta penned the ruling, with Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses concurring.
Bautista and Cuña can file a motion for reconsideration with the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division or file a notice of appeal if they intent to immediately elevate the case to the Supreme Court.
Officers of the city government’s Business Permits and Licensing Department (BPLD) testified that they accepted the delivery in June 2019, but failed to use the application that was supposed to enable paperless transactions at city hall.
This was because the representative of Geodata could not provide something as basic as the web address where users should go to.
The city’s Information Technology Development Department (ITDD) then discovered that the hardware and application were glitchy, even Geodata’s representative could not make it work during a demonstration.
The system only worked three years later, in 2022, after the city government got another IT company to fix it, according to ITDD chief Paul Padilla. This was already during the administration of Mayor Joy Belmonte. Bautista and Cuña were indicted over this case that same year.
“At the outset, the documentary and testimonial evidence submitted by the prosecution fully supported the fact that the Geodata applications could not qualify as complete delivery,” the decision read.
Still, Associate Justice Georgina Hidalgo dissented, saying that there were no sufficient evidence that the defendants were acting in bad faith or were negligent.
The ruling, however, pointed out, “The rush to effect payment to Geodata just two days before the term of office of both accused expired reels with the corrupt intent, dishonest design, or some unethical interest if only to ensure that Geodata received payment.”
Then-mayor Bautista signed the disbursement voucher for the full payment to Geodata on June 28, 2019. Cuña was the “final signatory” before the check was issued to Geodata. Their term in office ended on June 30, 2019. – Rappler.com