By Tara Yap

The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas recently ordered a three-month suspension for nine Iloilo Provincial Capitol officials on the grounds of grave misconduct, stemming from the procurement of P5.3 million worth of medicine and medical supplies in 2010.
The suspended officials include Provincial Accountant Lyd Tupas; Assistant Provincial Accountant Sandra Bionat; along with Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members Ramie Salcedo, Corazon Beloria, Edgar Sumido, Romeo Andig, Glenda Losanta, Antonio Muralla, and Julius Tidon.
According to the Ombudsman, the acquisition did not go through a public bidding process.
The BAC has since claimed the procurement was done for survivors of Typhoon Frank. However, the Ombudsman found “no logical reason” to argument since the storm occurred back in 2008./WDJ