The Sandiganbayan has cleared two officials of state-run Trade and Investment Development Corporation of the Philippines (TIDCORP) and two private individuals of over P4 billion worth of government losses involving a sovereign guarantee given to an unqualified firm.
In a 110-page decision promulgated last December 10, the anti-graft court junked the graft raps against the following individuals due to the prosecution’s failure to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt:
- Rolando Alonzo, then Executive Vice-President for Marketing Group Large Account of TIDCORP
- Teresita Cometa, Account Officer for Marketing Group – Large Account of TIDCORP
- Renato Ang of World Grannary Incorporated (WGI) and
- Alison Sy also of WGI
The Sandiganbayan said that the approval of the P1.08 billion sovereign guarantee given to WGI back in August to December 2003 is the mandate of the TIDCORP Board of Directors, not the accused.
Government prosecutors alleged that TIDCORP officials Alonzo and Cometa granted the sovereign guarantee to Ang’s WGI knowing that WGI is not qualified to be extended a sovereign guarantee due to the following reasons:
- Failure to comply with certain conditions imposed by the Credit Committee and the Board of Directors of TIDCORP and
- WGI defaulted to pay its loan obligations
As a result, TIDCORP, as guarantor, paid WGI’s loan obligations but was unable to recover the amount paid resulting in over P4 billion worth of government losses.
“It is the Credit Committee [of the TIDCORP], not accused Alonzo and Cometa, which evaluated and endorsed WGl’s application to the Board. Likewise, the Legal Department [of the TIDCORP] prepared the documents related to the approval of WGl’s guarantee application. It would appear that WGl’s application went through an honest-to-goodness process,” the Sandiganbayan said.
“Accused Alonzo and Cometa had no carte blanche to unduly influence the Credit Committee, Legal Department and the Board of Directors of TIDCORP to blindly approve WGl’s application,” the Sandiganbayan added.
Likewise, the anti-graft court said that witness and lawyer Rosario Bernaldo, the author of the Transactional Audit Report on the WGI sovereign grant, testified that aside from TIDCORP’s Alonzo and Cometa’s favorable recommendation of granting the sovereign grant to WGI, there is no other evidence “which would show conspiracy in railroading the approval of WGl’s guarantee application.”
“The transaction of WGI with TIDCORP was above board. The prosecution’s witnesses, Atty. lsabelo Gumaru and Joel Valdez, Head of the Legal Department and then-President, respectively of TIDCORP, endorsed the approval of WGl’s guarantee application. [And] no less than witness Romulo Neri, former Director-General of the National Economic Development Authority and ex-officio member of the Board of Directors of TIDCORP, vouched for the integrity of the process,” the Sandiganbayan said.
WGl’s guarantee application, the anti-graft court said, also hurdled 15 stages before it was deemed approved.
Further, the Sandiganbayan said the prosecution failed to refute WGI’s assertion that the firm filed a case for corporate rehabilitation and suspended payments to its creditors because of a January 2006 incident when WGI’s brand new ship unloader supplied and installed by Swiss company Buhler unexpectedly had a mechanical breakdown.
WGI said that the mechanical breakdown, which took Buhler six months to fix, adversely affected the finances and cash flow of WGI.
TIDCORP’s interests, the Sandiganbayan said, were also safeguarded by securities and collateral.
The project’s assets, valued at P3.2 billion, consists of those financed by the guaranteed loan of P1.8 Billion (US$33.03 Million), plus those financed by the equity contribution (P1.4 billion) of the principals, were all mortgaged in favor of TlDCORP.
“By virtue of the Joint and Solidary Signatures of the majority stockholders of WGI, another layer of security in favor of TIDCORP was laid. In fine, it was not proven beyond reasonable doubt that the approval of the guarantee facility in favor of WGI was achieved through any of the prescribed modes of commission (with manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or inexcusable negligence),” the Sandiganbayan said.
“Accordingly, the Court finds and so holds that accused Alonzo, Cometa, Sy and Ang should be acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt the alleged violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, as amended,” the Sandiganbayan added.
Consequently, the Hold Departure Order issued against all the accused were ordered lifted.
The bail bond posted for the former accused’s provisional liberty was also ordered released by the court in their favor, subject to the usual accounting and auditing procedures.
—VAL, GMA Integrated News
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