'Lorenzo allowed Bolante to misuse fertilizer fund'

MANILA, Philippines - Former Agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. is just as liable as his undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante for misuse of P728 million worth of fertilizer funds in 2004, according to the Office of the Ombudsman.

“Secretary Lorenzo’s act of allowing undersecretary Bolante to take control of and dispose of the funds amounting to P728 million, in effect misappropriating the same amounts to consenting or permitting through abandonment or negligence, another person to take or misappropriate such funds,” a 45-page supplemental complaint filed with the Ombudsman’s Preliminary Investigation and Administrative Adjudication and Monitoring Office (PAMO) read.

The Ombudsman’s Task Force Abono said Lorenzo should be charged along with Bolante with malversation of public funds under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.

Based on the supplemental complaint, Lorenzo directed local government units on March 16, 2004 to implement the Farm Inputs and Farm Implements Project (FIFIP) under the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA).

His order also stipulated that “all requests for fund assistance shall be subject to the assessment, evaluation and approval of Undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante and that the latter may deputize regional executive directors to enter into memorandum of agreements with LGUs covered by the FIFIP.” The same authority had been given to Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Ibarra Poliquit.

Lorenzo’s granting of authority to Bolante was in accordance with the General Memorandum Order issued by former secretary Leonardo Montemayor in August 2001 outlining rules on delegation of authority to sign official documents and contracts.

Task Force Abono said Lorenzo’s order “further advanced Undersecretary Bolante’s control over the P728-million fund release and use towards abuses leading to graft and penal violations from the fertilizer fund scam.”

“In the case of Secretary Lorenzo, while indeed he signed a memorandum that designates Undersecretary Bolante as the approving authority of the fertilizer fund, the fact remains that he was aware of the program and acted as co-signatory of the transaction,” the panel’s supplemental complaint read.

“As a result, Bolante was able to take control of the funds and dispose of the same. The records will show that by reason of the duties of his office, Secretary Lorenzo is accountable for fertilizer funds,” Task Force Abono stressed.

The supplemental complaint dated July 9 was signed by Acting Assistant Ombudsman Joselito Fangon and Assistant Graft Investigation Officer I Dennis Buenaventura.

Under the law, the crime of malversation involving P728 million or more is punishable by 40-year imprisonment under the Revised Penal Code.

An official found guilty will be banned from public office and made to pay an amount equivalent to the funds malversed or equal to the value of the property embezzled.

Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus Jr., in a press conference last Monday, explained that Lorenzo, Bolante, and 20 other respondents in the fertilizer fund scam case have been asked to file counter-affidavits.