It would be ‘impractical’ for the former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official in Region IV-B to go and inspect the projects in the entire region before signing pertinent documents, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Cecilio Jimeno, lawyer of former DPWH’s Region IV-B planning and design division chief Montrexis Tordecilla Tamayo, presented Benjie Mendoza, an engineer under the said division, before the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division.
Tamayo and his eight other co-accused are in the jurisdiction of the Sixth Division, which is handling their non-bailable malversation of funds through falsification of public documents.
The case stemmed from a P289.4 million road dike project in Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro constructed by Sunwest, a company co-founded by former Ako Bicol party-list Rep.Zaldy Co, which prosecutors said was found to have serious structural deficiencies.
Co could not yet participate in the trial since he was declared by Sandiganbayan as a fugitive from justice, giving only Tamayo and his co-accused the chance to defend themselves.
In his written testimony submitted to the court, Mendoza indicated the estimated travel time between DPWH-Mimaropa headquarters in Quezon City and in Oriental Mindoro, where the project is located. The headquarters of DPWH-Mimaropa is located along Edsa Ave in Diliman district.
Prosecutors sought to strike off from record this part of Mendoza’s testimony, questioning its relevance.?Associate Justice Kevin Vivero overruled the prosecution’s objection, allowing that part of Mendoza’s written testimony to remain.
‘There will be difficulty for Tamayo to travel from Quezon City to inspect all projects in the island,’ Jimeno told the court.
After the trial, Jimeno told reporters that the defense camp sought to prove that it would be ‘impractical’ for Tamayo to inspect more than 200 infrastructure projects in Mimaropa from 2022 to 2025.
Prosecutors accused Tamayo of being part of a conspiracy in the malversation case by signing the first progress billing and the certificate of inspection (COI) of the project.
Asked if Tamayo inspected the project before signing the documents, Jimeno did not categorically answer, noting it will be tackled in the next trial.
Tamayo himself will testify next week in his defense.
In previous hearing, Tamayo’s co-accused Juliet Calvo admitted that she did not personally inspect the site before she signed the COI for the project.
Calvo is the former maintenance division chief of the DPWH in Region IV-B.