GMA faces probe on fertilizer scam

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered an investigation into former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s alleged involvement in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in 2004.

Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro announced yesterday that a fact-finding probe will be conducted on Arroyo, who now represents the second congressional district of Pampanga.

Plunder and graft cases filed against Arroyo were not investigated when the ombudsman was Merceditas Gutierrez even after Arroyo had lost her presidential immunity from lawsuits.

Only officials such as former agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. and undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante were subjected to investigation for the scam.

Last week, the Ombudsman junked the motions for reconsideration filed by the respondents and ordered the filing of plunder charges against them before the Sandiganbayan.

“It is an elementary principle that a secretary is an alter ego of the president who has direct control and supervision of Cabinet secretaries,” said Casimiro.       

Lorenzo allegedly allowed Bolante to misuse or misappropriate P728-million worth of fertilizer funds in 2004, which was allegedly used for Arroyo’s presidential campaign that year.

“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,” said the complaint filed by the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO).

The FIO said both officials should be charged with malversation of public funds under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

After the preliminary probe, the Ombudsman recommended the filing of plunder and graft charges against them – as well as governors and lawmakers who were named recipients of the fertilizer fund – before the Sandiganbayan.

Former justice secretary Raul Gonzalez, Arroyo’s legal adviser, described the order of the Ombudsman as “too much.”

 “It depends on the evidence but he may be stretching the issue of command responsibility too much,” he said.      

He noted that Republic Act 6713, also known as the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials, has set limits for command responsibility.

He said he considered Casimiro a friend but the acting ombudsman may have been too fixated in his bid to be appointed in a permanent capacity by President Aquino.        

“I think he (Casimiro) should be more objective and circumspect. Maybe he is just showing his manhood,” Gonzalez said. “I just hope he has no ulterior motives.”

Arroyo’s spokesperson Maite Defensor could not be reached for comment.

Relief

Former agriculture undersecretary Bolante sought relief from the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday against the ombudsman office’s approval of his indictment over the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.         

In a petition, he asked the high court to nullify the resolutions of the ombudsman dated March 13 and June 13 ordering the filing of plunder case against him and seven other former officials before the Sandiganbayan.

He alleged that acting Ombudsman Casimiro, named respondent in the petition, abused his discretion in approving the findings of graft investigators that there was ample evidence that would warrant trial in the anti-graft court. 

Bolante was joined by former agriculture assistant secretary Ibarra Poliquit, another official covered by the order, in filing the petition before the SC.

The petitioners claimed they were denied due process in the ombudsman’s investigation.

In elevating the case to the SC, the petitioners argued that the ombudsman could not file the information yet with the Sandiganbayan.     

Also ordered charged in the Sandiganbayan were former agriculture secretary Lorenzo, former Quezon City congresswoman Nanette Daza and 32 incumbent and former government officials allegedly connected to the fertilizer fund scam.      

Plunder charges were also recommended against Joselito Flordeliza, Jaime Eonzon Paule, Maritess Aytona, Jose Barredo, Leonica Marco-Llarena and Marilyn Araos.         

The ombudsman also ordered the filing of charges of malversation of public funds against several regional directors of the Department of Agriculture (DA).  

Meanwhile, complaints against DA Assistant Secretary Belinda Gonzales, Emma Gonzales and a private respondent were dismissed because of insufficient evidence.

The order came six years after the scam was exposed and investigated by the Senate in 2005. The fertilizer fund was allegedly used by the past administration to lure local officials to support the presidential bid of Arroyo in 2004.            

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee recommended in its report that Arroyo, who was then the incumbent president, not be charged because of the immunity she possessed.

It recommended, however, that officials of the DA implicated in the mess be charged with plunder.

Not all the intended recipients of the farm inputs received allocations. In some instances, allocations were made to areas with no agricultural lands.

 The ombudsman earlier filed two graft charges before the Sandiganbayan against incumbent Sorsogon Gov. Raul Lee, accountant Raul Hernandez and provincial treasurer Ofelia Velasco.       

 The ombudsman said that the accused caused undue injury to the government by approving the purchase of 2,133 liters of Bio Nature Liquid Fertilizer from Feshan Philippines Inc. in 2004.

The provincial government purchased the fertilizer at P1,500 per liter against prevailing market price of only P180/liter.  

Graft investigators said the purchase was accomplished through two separate transactions involving payment for 133 liters of liquid fertilizer on May 6, 2004 for P189,525 and another 2,000 liters for P3 million on June 28, 2004.        

The ombudsman noted that Lee favored Feshan as the sole distributor of the fertilizers when in fact the “mode of procurement through exclusive distributorship is not appropriate.”           

The ombudsman said that the deficient documentary requirement for the purchases indicated irregularity that can only be attributed to respondents who all took part in the release of payments in favor of Feshan. – With Paolo Romero, Edu Punay, Marvin Sy