Magsaysay presides over Senate hearing

Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. will preside over the Senate hearing on the reported fertilizer scam on Monday with Probe Team’s Cheche Lazaro, Sheila Coronel of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and former Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin as the lead guests.

The hearing will tackle the alleged mismanagement and use of the fertilizer fund of the Department of Agriculture’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program.

Magsaysay, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, cited the PCIJ report which stated that the DA released fertilizer funds during the 2004 presidential campaign and records would bear that the Department of Budget and Management authorized the release of P728 million for the purchase of farm inputs and implements.

According to the senator, farmers and farm organizations, however, declared that they never received a single-centavo worth of fertilizer or farm inputs.

"The truth in this particular issue must be resolved," Magsaysay said.