Ex-PSC chair Harry Angping faces graft rap

Harry Angping. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Former Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chair  Harry Angping and a businessman have been  charged with graft before the Sandiganbayan for their alleged connivance in the  hiring of 80 personnel without public bidding and PSC board authority in 2009.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved the indictment of Angping, a former representative of Manila, and Edmund Montanes, then president and general manager of Philcare Manpower Services, a company engaged in janitorial services.

The three-page complaint filed by Jose Ronald Bersales, the Ombudsman’s  graft investigation and prosecution officer III,  said the accused allegedly conspired to hire 71 janitors and nine gardeners without the necessary requirements.

A preliminary investigation was conducted and found “sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that the crime charged has been committed.”

The complaint said that Angping  “unlawfully and criminally gave unwarranted benefits, advantage and preference” to Philcare Manpower Service by procuring, through an addendum to the Contract of Service dated March 5, 2009, without conducting  a competitive public bidding for the said services.

Based on the contract, the PSC paid P15,324.42  per personnel monthly from March  1,2009, to January 31, 2011, to Philcare Manpower Services.

The Ombudsman said that by entering into the questioned contract, the PSC was deprived of the opportunity to obtain the lowest possible bid or the most advantageous and beneficial contract,  “to the damage and prejudice of the government.”

The complaint likewise said that Angping committed the crime by taking advantage of his public office in relation to his official duties.