(Eagle News) — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday, June 21, reiterated the contracts entered into by the Department of Justice and the security agency owned by Solicitor General Jose Calida’s family were aboveboard.
Speaking to CNN Philippines, Guevarra said the “conclusion is still the same” even after they “looked into our records” of the contract inked between Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc. and the DOJ.
Although Calida said he had resigned as chair of the company, he admitted he still owned 60 percent of the shares of the company.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said, however, that “mere stock ownership is not prohibited for as long as you declare it in your SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth)….”
“He is not exercising management powers,” Roque said of Calida.
“I examined all the records pertaining to the procurement and all of these were regular on their face, because this is a public bidding and all that we need to comply with are the pertinent regulations under the Government Procurement Reform Act,” Guevarra said.
He said no conflict of interest on the part of the DOJ was also found, as the winning bidder had no relation within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity to the head of the Bids and Awards Committee, its secretariat and the head of the agency.
However, the conflict of interest on the part of Calida, he said, was “something he has to deal with separately.”