Former South Cotabato mayor faces graft raps over P1.8M fertilizer fund scam

MANILA -- The Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) has found probable cause to charge former Norala, South Cotabato Mayor Romeo Januto with violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act , in connection with the highly irregular procurement of P1.8-million worth of fertilizer in 2005.Likewise charged are municipal accountant Grace Mediana, municipal treasurer Carlos Bengil and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairman Dominador Escucha, Jr. and member Victor Balayon, the reelected town mayor.The charges were based on the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) that no competitive public bidding was conducted for the contract awarded to RCS Trading (RCS) in violation of Republic Act No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act .Records showed that Januto, et. al. prematurely resorted to direct contracting as a mode of procurement when they immediately awarded the contract to RCS without first showing that there were no suitable substitutes from other suppliers at terms that were more advantageous to the government.The Ombudsman said that the respondents acted with manifest partiality when they subscribed to the procurement through direct contracting and not through a competitive public bidding and that by subscribing to the procurement through direct contracting, [they] gave RCS Trading unwarranted advantage or preference. Januto ran and lost in his vice mayoralty bid in last May's local elections.