GOVT EXECS STILL IN OFFICE IN FERTILIZER SCAMS FACE SUSPENSION
MANILA, APRIL 25, 2011 (STAR) By Jess Diaz - Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares warned yesterday that government officials facing graft charges filed by the Ombudsman's office in connection with the P728-million fertilizer fund scam could face suspension.
He said once the charges are filed at the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman could ask the anti-graft court to suspend the respondents.
"It's not automatic. Prosecutors would have to file a motion with the court for the suspension of the accused," he said.
He said the court would have to consider the motion and hear the side of the respondents.
At least five government officials that were implicated by the Ombudsman to the fertilizer fund scam are still on active duty at the Department of Agriculture or in other government agency.
They are former Agriculture assistant secretary Ibarra Poliquit Jr., now a vice president of the Government Service Insurance System, and DA regional directors Oscar Parawan, Leo Cañeda, Roger Chio, and Ricardo Oblena.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala told The STAR on Wednesday that he would await the recommendations of the Ombudsman on his regional directors.
"If they say I should suspend them, then I will have to suspend them," he said.
He said other agriculture officials whom the Ombudsman would charge have either resigned or retired.
The Ombudsman's office announced last week that after nearly seven years of preliminary investigation, it was recommending criminal charges against several DA officials, three former lawmakers, two former governors, and several fertilizer suppliers and agents.
Its findings are contained in a resolution signed for impeached Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez by overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro.
Based on the resolution, Poliquit and former Agriculture secretary Luis "Cito" Lorenzo Jr. and former undersecretary Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante would face charges for plunder and malversation of public funds.
On the other hand, incumbent and former DA regional directors would face malversation charges.
Colmenares, part of the 11-member House team that will prosecute Gutierrez in her impeachment trial at the Senate, does not believe that Gutierrez's prosecutors could convict those they would hale to court.
He said the seven-year delay in the filing of the charges could be enough ground for the Sandiganbayan to dismiss the cases.
Under several rulings of the Supreme Court and the anti-graft court itself, inordinate delay in the filing of information is a violation of due process and the right of the accused to speedy trial, he said.
He added that the Casimiro resolution was just "for show" and was really intended to be part of Gutierrez's defense in her Senate trial.
The Ombudsman is facing six impeachment charges, topped by her alleged inaction on the fertilizer scam.
Like Colmenares, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., House justice committee chairman, and his senior vice chairman, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, believe the charges against former agriculture officials would not stick.
"They could suffer the same fate as those filed (with the Sandiganbayan) against (former justice secretary) Nani (Hernando) Perez," Tupas said.
He said the court dismissed the case against Perez "due to inordinate delay (in its filing)."
Fariñas said, "Precisely, we impeached her for such inordinate delay, which is tantamount to betrayal of public trust, and will prosecute and seek her removal from office by the Senate."
In December 2002, then Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez filed a complaint for plunder against Perez, whom he accused of extorting $2 million from him in exchange for his non-inclusion in the cases against former President Joseph Estrada. – With Aurea Calica
COA alerted NFA on fertilizer scam as early as 2003 By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated April 25, 2011 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) had uncovered anomalies in the procurement of fertilizer by the government as early as 2003, a year before the alleged P728-million fertilizer fund scam was discovered.
In February 2004, sate auditor Flerida Jimenez wrote former National Food Authority administrator Arthur Yap – who now represents Bohol in Congress – regarding the discrepancies she noted in the NFA's joint project with the Department of Agriculture in May 2003.
The "alleged anomaly" covers P432 million worth of fertilizer that was supposed to be bought by NFA for the agriculture department, for purposes of distributing them to farmer-beneficiaries in time for the May-October 2003 cropping season.
The NFA-DA memorandum of agreement was signed by Yap and former Agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr.
Jimenez noted "inconsistencies" in the signing date and the grant of authority on the part of the NFA because Lorenzo authorized the purchase of the fertilizer (powder) through a negotiated contract 12 days before the signing of the agreement.
Other signatories were NFA Deputy Administrator for Operations Gregorio Tan Jr. and DA Undersecretary for Field Operations Edmund Sana, who both served as witnesses. The COA also noticed another inconsistency on the part of NFA when the agency claimed to have adopted the negotiated procurement, but held "three simultaneous biddings" in the national capital region in Luzon, Cebu in Visayas and Davao City in Mindanao.
"This is inconsistent with the claim that NFA adopted the negotiated procurement," she said.
Jimenez also questions how "invitations were sent" to bidders in the regions and "how many suppliers were invited to participate." "While the season for the negotiation was to facilitate immediate procurement of the fertilizers, the procurement contracts were awarded to Philpos only after June 2003 when the approval of the Office of the President was as early as March 2003," she said.
"This means that the DA and NFA were not in a hurry to procure the fertilizer and that the normal competitive bidding could have been adopted," Jimenez wrote to Yap.
Another problem was the "alleged delay" in the delivery of fertilizers to farmer-beneficiaries, apart from reports that prices awarded to Philpos "may still be considered high, considering the big volume of fertilizers purchased by NFA."
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