THE Ombudsman on Tuesday dismissed Director General Alan Purisima and 10 other senior police officers in connection with the anomalous P100-million contract they entered into with a courier service in 2011.
In a 50-page decision, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said her office found substantial evidence to hold Purisima, the former chief of the National Police’s Civil Security Group Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, Chief Supt. Napoleon Estilles, Senior Supt. Allan Parreno, Senior Supt. Eduardo Acierto, Senior Supt. Melchor Reyes, Supt. Lenbell Fabia, Chief Insp. Sonia Calixto, Chief Insp. Nelson Bautista, Chief Insp. Ricardo Zapata and Senior Insp. Ford Tuazon, for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and grave abuse of authority.
Petrasanta was a former aide of the late President Corazon Aquino, and was touted to be a top contender for the National Police chief position after Purisima’s resignation. Purisima resigned as National Police chief in February following the Mamasapano clash, which killed 44 members of the Special Action Force.
The administrative case against Director Gil Meneses was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, because Meneses has retired from government service before the case was filed.
“Aside from dismissal from the service, the accessory penalties of forfeiture of retirement benefits, cancellation of eligibility, bar from taking civil-service examinations and perpetual disqualification from reemployment in government service were also imposed,” Morales said.
The case stemmed from two separate complaints filed in 2014 by private citizen Glen Gerard Ricafranca, and the Fact-Finding Investigation Bureau of the Office of Deputy Ombudsman for Military and Other Law Enforcement, regarding the engagement and accreditation of Werfast Documentary Agency (Werfast) as the provider of courier services for renewed firearms licenses.
The Ombudsman found that Werfast was a not a registered corporation at the time of the signing of the memorandum of agreement in May 2011, as it was incorporated only in August 2011 with a capitalization of only P65,000.
“Evidence shows not only that Purisima knew what he was doing in signing the Meneses memorandum, but that he himself exerted pressure and coercion over his subordinates on behalf of Werfast,” Morales said.
Meanwhile, the separate criminal charge of violation of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against Purisima, Meneses, Estilles, Petrasanta, Parreno, Acierto, Reyes, Fabia, Calixto, Bautista and Tuazon, and Werfast representatives Mario Juan, Salud Bautista, Enrique Valerio, Ireno Bacolod, Lorna Perena, Juliana Pasia and Marilyn Chua are pending preliminary investigation.