Solon: Sereno’s use of hotel’s presidential villa at no extra cost may be graft

A lawmaker on Wednesday claimed that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno may have committed graft for staying in the presidential villa of Shangri-La Boracay "with no additional charges."

At the resumption of the House Committee of Justice's hearing on the impeachment complaint against Sereno, Leyte Representative Vicente "Ching" Veloso said that in her verified reply, Sereno said she, her staff and some members of the secretariat "were allowed to stay at the Presidential Villa with no additional charges."

This was during the 3rd ASEAN Chief Justices Meeting, which was held in March in 2015.

In the impeachment complaint, the presidential villa was said to have cost P200,000 per night.

Lawyer Thelma Bahia, chief fiscal of the Supreme Court Management and Budget Office, said the choice of the presidential villa did not even undergo public bidding.

Veloso said the use of the presidential villa with no additional costs may be a violation of Section 3(b) and (g) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

According to Section 3(b) this law, public officials have committed corrupt practices if they "directly or indirectly requesting or receiving any gift, present, share, percentage, or benefit, for himself or for any other person, in connection with any contract or transaction between the Government and any other part, wherein the public officer in his official capacity has to intervene under the law."

Section 3(g), meanwhile, states that public officials are prohibited from "entering, on behalf of the Government, into any contract or transaction manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the same, whether or not the public officer profited or will profit thereby."

Veloso pointed out that Sereno technically received a gift from the hotel by not being charged extra for staying in the presidential villa.

"She received a benefit dahil hindi siya siningil ng Shangri-La [ng additional charges]. This is a violation of Section 3 Paragraph B ng Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act," he said.

Veloso said that for him, the cost of renting the presidential villa was too much.

"Yung gastos na yan, masyadong malaki hirap na hirap ang Kongreso na maghagilap ng pera para mapatakbo ang bansa, para matulungan ang mga mamamayan. Tapos ito, in addition to the P5.2 million na Land Cruiser, meron pa tayong presidential villa," he said.

"At sabi niyo pa hindi pa nagdaan sa bidding? Diyos na mahabagin!" he added.

Sereno's lawyers earlier said the presidential villa was chosen and paid for by the Supreme Court as the meeting area for the 3rd ASEAN Chief Justices Meeting for 24 hours.

It was here, they said, where the signing of the Boracay Accord, the photo-op of the ASEAN Chief Justices and the side meetings between ASEAN Chief Justices took place.

"By maximizing the use of the Presidential Villa, Chief Justice Sereno actually saved public funds. Clearly, there is nothing corrupt about this," they said.

In an interview on GMA's "Bawal ang Pasaway" last November, Sereno said that the resort charged P134,192.25 for the use of the presidential villa instead of the regular rate of P280,000.

"Ngayon, sino tutulog dun pag gabi? Eh di ang ginawa namin, dalawang kwarto kasi yun, ako at ang staff ko natulog kami dun. Wala namang gastos sa taumbayan yun eh. Kung kumuha kami ng ibang kwarto, yun ang dagdag-gastos pero dahil ginamit namin yung bayad na eh di walang gastos," Sereno said.

In her comment to the impeachment complaint lodged with the House justice committee, Sereno said had she, her staff, and part of the secretariat taken separate rooms at the resort, it would have cost the taxpayers around P17,000 per night for the chief justice and around P30,000 per night for the two rooms for her security and staff.

"Thus, by using the presidential villa at no additional cost, the chief justice actually saved public funds," the comment stated.  — BM, GMA News