THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) apprehended eight individuals pretending to be officials or connected to the DBM.
The DBM said on Wednesday the NBI arrested the individuals in an entrapment operation conducted in a restaurant in Mandaluyong City on March 26 after they accepted marked money worth half a million pesos from the NBI.
One of the suspects initially introduced herself as an Undersecretary of the DBM to the complainant, saying that she could assist in releasing funds for government projects, based on the initial report by the NBI.
The same suspect also claimed that she is in charge of the Department’s special projects, the NBI added.
The complainant, a project contractor, was promised by the suspect access to P1.3 billion worth of government projects if they agreed to a deal, the details of the complaint said.
The project was related to the construction of a dam, which the DBM was supposedly funding, it added.
Before the project would be awarded to the complainant, the suspects asked to provide “grease money” first for the project’s “blueprint” to initiate the processing of documents for the project award.
The contractor conducted an initial verification with the DBM and discovered that there was no official by that name in the agency, the complaint stated. The mentioned project did not also exist in the agency’s records.
As a result, the DBM said it collaborated with the NBI to carry out the entrapment.
Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said they strictly condemn these acts.
“We hope that with this successful entrapment, we are able to send a strong statement to the public that the DBM will never tolerate fraudulent activities like this. Seryoso po ang DBM sa paglaban sa katiwalian gaya po ng ganitong mga gawain. [The DBM is serious in fighting corruption similar to actions like this],” Pangandaman was quoted in the statement as saying.
The Budget chief urged the public to report to them promptly if they encounter individuals pretending to work for the government to solicit money.
The DBM said that according to the latest NBI report, two of the suspects expressed their willingness to be witnesses against the other suspects.