MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman junked the motion for reconsideration filed by former agriculture undersecretary and former Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) national director Eduardo Gongona on its decision to indict him, along with two others, for allegedly violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The 13-page ruling, a copy of which was provided to the media over the weekend, was signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on October 2.

The Ombudsman said Gongona failed to present new evidence that would reverse the indictment.

“The arguments he has put forth have either been already considered or passed upon in the assailed resolution, or better ventilated during trial than at the preliminary investigation level,” the decision read.

Demosthenes Escoto, dismissed BFAR national director who was previously chairman of the bureau’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), and Simon Tucker, chief executive officer of United Kingdom-based SRT Marine Systems Solutions, were also indicted along with Gongona.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed in 2022 by lawyer James Mier Victoriano on alleged irregularities in the procurement of transmitters and transceivers for BFAR’s Integrated Marine Environment Monitoring System Project Phase II (PHILO) project. The complaint said respondents caused the loss of financial assistance from the French government, paid P722.639 million to SRT-UK without complete documents, and purchased an excessive number of transceivers.

BFAR’s PHILO project was for the implementation of its Vessel Monitoring System, which aims to monitor the location and activity of commercial fishing vessels at sea in order to curb illegal fishing.

The project was supposed to be financed by a 28.52-million-euro (P1.75 billion) loan from the French government, which in turn required bidders to be French or in a joint venture with a French company.

It was SRT-France, a subsidiary of SRT-UK, that won the bidding in 2017. But the French government pointed out that SRT-France was ineligible — it was still owned by a British firm and it had no manufacturing facilities or any business activities based in France.

The Ombudsman noted it was Gongona who initiated the cancellation of the loan from the French government without any clear reason. BFAR requested funding from the Department of Budget and Management, which then granted the agency P2.09 billion for the PHILO project.

The scope of the project then expanded — aside from procuring 2,500 two-way satellite VMS transmitters for catcher vessels and 1,000 one-way satellite transmitters, the chosen company would also have to get 5,000 VMS transceivers for commercial vessels and satellite services for the project.

It was SRT-UK that won the second bidding in 2018.

Gongona claimed he did not know that SRT-France was ineligible and said he relied on the endorsements made by the BAC and technical working group. But the Ombudsman rejected this, saying, “It appears that as early as the time of bidding, he was already aware of the possible defects in the eligibility of SRT-France.” – Rappler.com