By Dane Angelo M. Enerio
COURT Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez’s bid to become a Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice has been challenged by allegations of misapporiation of funds from the $21.9 million loan provided by the World Bank (WB) in 2003 to fund the government’s Judicial Reform Support Project (JRSP).
The 10-page complaint submitted on Thursday to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) by a certain Ryzza Joy E. Laurea accused Mr. Marquez of lacking the post’s constitutional qualifications of “proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence” when he violated Republic Act R.A. No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and the Lawyer’s Code of Professional Responsibility over his alleged misuse of funds.
Mr. Marquez is competing with 11 other candidates vying to replace outgoing Associate Justice Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr., who is set to retire on Aug. 8.
Ms. Laurea cited in her letter data from the WB’s Aide Memoire report, which was released on Dec. 28, 2011 to monitor the loan and the progress of the JRSP.
According to her, “based on reports, the Aide Memoire stated that the World Bank has uncovered questionable procurements and disbursements by the Supreme Court under the watch of then (Chief Justice Renato C. Corona) in connection with the bank-funded JRSP.”
She noted that during that time, Mr. Marquez “was concurrently the Court Administrator, Spokesperson of the Supreme Court, and Chief of its Public Information Office and Chief of Staff of the Office of the Chief Justice.”
“The review uncovered, among others, ‘inaccurate/incomplete information’ on the project’s financial management report; ‘diminished existing internal check-and-balance mechanism,’ purchase of Information Technology (IT) equipment outside of the agreed procurement plan; and the practice of borrowing funds from the loan proceeds for foreign travels of justices paid to a travel agency owned by lawyer,” Ms. Laurea said in her letter.
She added that the report rated the JRSP as “high risk” and “unsatisfactory” on project management, project procurement, and financial management, and that the project’s financial statements “can no longer be relied upon.”
Questioned in the Aide Memoire was the “diminished internal auditing mechanism” in the SC which was examplified when Mr. Marquez was also appointed as the chair of the project’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), adding to all his positions in the high court.
Also noted in the report was Mr. Marquez’s authorization of payments up to P200,000, later increased to P500,000, in Mr. Corona’s behalf.
“[A]n amount of $199,9000, covering 70 payments, was deemed to be ‘ineligible’ (unauthorized) under the terms of the JRSP,” the letter added, with 16 of the “ineligible” expenditures leading to the Office of the Court Administrator, headed by Mr. Marquez.
Then Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda attributed the cost to “ineligible expenses’ disallowed by the WB which included meals, accommodations, airfare and allowances for justices, as well as computer equipment, among others.
THE PROBLEM
According to Ms. Laurea, rather than clarifying the “ineligible” expenditures, Mr. Marquez instead “opted to downplay the Aid Memoire as a mere preliminary report” and “did not explain how his office spent (the funds).”
She also said Mr. Marquez’s simultaneous positions “diminished (the) internal auditing mechanism” in the SC and that he “participated in conflicting roles in the JRSP.”
Sought for comment, Mr. Marquez told reporters, “It’s an old, non-issue, erroneous complaint that cannot even be attributed to me.”

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