A graft complaint has been filed with the Office of the Ombudsman against House Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. regarding three civil works contracts worth over P611 million awarded to an entity allegedly owned by his family. The contracts were related to flood management projects.
The complaint alleges that these contracts demonstrate a “conflict of interest in public service” and were manipulated to favor the family-owned business of Congressman Gonzales. Named as respondents in the complaint are Aurelio Brenz Gonzales, Aurelio Gonzales 3rd, Alyssa Michaela Gonzales, Aurelio Michaeline Gonzales, Zenaida Quiambao, Roseller Tolentino (the regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways Region 3), Ignacio Evangelista, Anna Marie Tayag, and Arthur Santos.
The complaint asserts that there was partiality in awarding the contracts to A.D. Gonzales Jr. Construction & Trading Co. Inc., a corporation managed and owned by the Gonzales family. It also points out that three family members hold public offices in the province where the projects were to be carried out.
The complaint further notes that while the congressman transferred his shares in the corporation, the current majority owners and officers are still composed of his children and immediate family members.
The anti-graft law prohibits public officials from providing unwarranted benefits to private parties through manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or gross inexcusable negligence in the discharge of their official duties. It also bars public officers from having a financial or pecuniary interest in a business, contract, or transaction in which they intervene or take part in their official capacity, or in which they are prohibited by the Constitution or any law from having an interest.
By FCCT Editorial Team
, an independent military force, and allied militias in Sudan raped several dozen women and girls in West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, and those fleeing to Chad between late April and late June 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. The assailants appear to have targeted people because of their Massalit ethnicity and, in some cases, because they were known activists.){kind=link}