Cited Laws
accordingly recommended that the penalty of one year suspension without pay be imposed on them. On the other hand, the complaint against Agustino, Soldevilla and Gustilo were recommended to be dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence. Then Ombudsman Simeon V. Marcelo approved the recommendation but modified the offense and penalty to Grave Misconduct and dismissal from the service for Tingson, Sales, Gardose and Lagoc. Petitioners along with Gardose appealed to the CA which affirmed the Ombudsmans findings of fact and conclusions. The CA held that the Ombudsman correctly concluded that petitioners committed grave misconduct when they conducted the bid process of and awarded the subject contracts without compliance with the mandatory twin-publication requirement. It likewise disagreed with petitioners claim that the Ombudsman failed to consider their evidence as they could have presented whatever evidence they had during the preliminary conference or attach it to their memorandum. Their motion for reconsideration having been denied by the CA, petitioners filed their respective petitions before this Court. As condensed from petitioners arguments, the main issues to be resolved are (1) whether the Ombudsmans finding of irregularities in the bidding for the equipment and materials for the skywalk projects was based on substantial evidence, and (2) whether the Ombudsman correctly concluded that petitioners conspired to rig the bidding in favor of IBC, the winning bidder. We deny both petitions. By its very nature and characteristic, a competitive public bidding aims to protect the public interest by giving the public the best possible advantages thru open competition. Another self-evident purpose of public bidding is to avoid or preclude suspicion of favoritism and anomalies in the execution of public contracts. [7] Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1594 [8] established a set of rules and regulations to ensure competitive public bidding for construction projects. The Implementing Rules and Regulations [9] (IRR) of said law mandates the publication of the invitation to pre-qualify/bid, viz: IB 3 - INVITATION TO PREQUALIFY/APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY AND TO BID For locally funded contracts, contractors shall be invited to apply for eligibility and to bid through: . for contracts to be bid costing P5,000,000 and below or for contracts authorized to be bid by the regional/district offices involving costs as may be delegated by the head of office/agency/corporation, the invitation to bid shall be advertised at least two (2) times within two (2) weeks in a newspaper of general local circulation in the region where the contract to be bid is located , which newspaper has been regularly published for at least six (6) months before the date of issue of the advertisement. During the same period that the advertisement is posted in the newspaper or for a longer period determined by the head of the office/agency/corporation concerned, the same advertisement shall be pos