Witness urged to testify at Ombudsman’s impeachment trial
MANILA, Philippines—To fight off the plunder charges against him, witness Jose Barredo should come clean on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam not only in the courts but in the impeachment trial of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
This was the advice of former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., who expressed surprise at the Ombudsman’s recommendation to file plunder charges against Barredo along with the alleged key players in the 2004 fund mess in the Sandiganbayan.
“He’s a credible witness. I’m sure he will try to help in the impeachment trial or in the trial of the fertilizer fund scam to come out with the truth,” Magsaysay said in an interview.
Magsaysay, who chaired the agriculture committee that inquired into the scam in 2005 and 2006, said Barredo should cooperate with both the prosecution panels in the future trial of the case in the Sandiganbayan and Gutierrez’s impeachment trial.
“Tell the truth. Tell what you know,” he said, indicating that taking the witness stand in the Sandiganbayan and Senate, and becoming forthright was the best way Barredo could fight the charges.
Barredo testified as a witness in the Senate agriculture committee’s inquiry into the alleged diversion of the fertilizer fund to the presidential campaign of then President Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004.
This week, he came out to protest the Ombudsman’s recommendation to file plunder charges against him along with former Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo and former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante and several others in connection with the scam.
The order came in the middle of the senators’ preparations for the convening of the Senate as an impeachment court on May 9.
The Senate will try Gutierrez on a charge of betrayal of public trust stemming from her alleged inaction on big corruption cases, topped by the fertilizer fund scam.
Magsaysay expressed surprise at the Ombudsman’s move and said Barredo was a witness in the Senate inquiry, and was not among those it had recommended to be prosecuted for the fund diversion.
“I’m surprised that he’s one of those recommended to be charged. He was one of our many witnesses, and he came forward voluntarily,” he said.
Barredo, who surfaced to testify on the scam despite threats to his life, turned out to be a credible witness because his testimony was “corroborated and validated,” Magsaysay said.
His testimony basically revolved around the diversion of the fund to political allies of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the run-up to the May 2004 presidential elections won by Arroyo.
He and business partner Marites Aytona approached congressmen, governors and mayors to inform them of the availability of the agriculture fund for the purchase of fertilizer, dangling a 30-percent commission that he delivered.
“We found him credible enough,” the ex-senator said.
In Magsaysay’s view, the challenge now facing the prosecution panels would be to sift through Barredo’s testimony and see if this would help them prosecute the case in court, and in the impeachment trial of Gutierrez.
“He can be a witness if the prosecution wants him to. They can expect him to be forthright,” he said.
