FORMER Tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez is facing charges of graft and corruption before the Office of the Ombudsman for the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” advertising campaign of the Department of Tourism during his tenure.
The National Bureau of Investigation initiated the filing of the charges against Jimenez for his supposed connivance to award and extend twice a tourism advertising campaign project that cost almost P1.2 billion for three years.
Also charged were Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr., who was then an assistant secretary at the DoT during the award of the ad campaign, and lawyer Guiller Asido, ex-chief operating officer of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and now administrator of the Intramuros Administration.
The NBI urged the Ombudsman to charge the accused who are still active in government service to be charged with administrative cases of gross negligence of duty and serious dishonesty.
The bureau said the department should have not awarded the ad campaign contract to the advertising agency Dentsu over its failure to comply with documentary requirements, citing the extension of the ad contract twice in 2013 by Jimenez and his co-accused.
This proved “a conspiracy to circumvent the National Government’s Procurement Law and processes,” the bureau said.
Based on the NBI findings, the ad agency that won the contract should not even have been awarded the original advertising campaign project in October 2012 costing P200 million, because it was found in July 2012 to be “ineligible” to participate in the project by the special bids and awards committee created by former Tourism secretary Albert Lim.
The investigation also showed the Tourism department and its special bids and awards committee ignored basic bidding rules and short-listed Dentsu instead of doing so with one other company.
DoT’s technical working group and the bids and awards committee gave the winning company the highest technical rating over the other bidder, but the original advertising campaign contract landed with Dentsu in October 2012.
Jimenez extended the original contract on Feb. 1, 2013 to June 30, 2013 at higher cost of P400 million, and included a 2 percent professional fee for the ad agency.
This was despite an opinion from Justice Raoul Creencia of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel that the extension should not exceed the original approved budget of the contract of P200 million and should get clearance from the Department of Budget and Management as a multi-year obligational authority.
According to the NBI, Jimenez ignored the OGCC’s warning and even extended the advertising campaign contract for the second time in October 2013 at P600 million with no prior approval from the board of directors.
The bureau said the extension of the contract twice with no public bidding constituted a conspiracy among Jimenez, Asido and the other Tourism officials.
