Former Isabela Gov. Padaca hits speedy filing of graft raps

Former Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca has protested the Ombudsman’s filing of graft and malversation charges against her, saying that this was done without first resolving a motion for reconsideration she had earlier filed.

Padaca has asked the Sandiganbayan to defer the issuance of an arrest warrant against her while she is appealing the Ombudsman’s decision finding probable cause in connection with the grant of a contract to a nongovernment organization (NGO) to implement the province’s rice program.

The Office of the Ombudsman had filed criminal charges against Padaca, provincial legal officer Johnas Lamonera, municipal councilor Servando Soriano and Dionisio Pine, manager of the Economic Development for Western Isabela and Northern Luzon Foundation Inc. (Edwinlfi), for the allegedly improper award of a P25–million contract to the latter private group to implement Isabela’s agriculture program.

In her plea before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Divison, Padaca said she had filed her motion for reconsideration with the Ombudsman during the proper time period. Since such a motion is part of the preliminary investigation process, the probe could not have been completed without resolving her appeal first, she said.

‘Disregard of right’

Thus, the filing of the charges against her without first resolving her motion was “in brazen disregard of (her) right to due process,” she said.

She asked for the deferral of court proceedings to give her the chance to be heard. She likewise asked the court not to issue an arrest warrant until the Ombudsman resolves her motion for reconsideration.

In her motion for reconsideration filed before the Ombudsman in May, Padaca claimed the criticism against her rice project was filed by her political opponents, allies of rival Benjamin Dy, during the election campaign period in 2007.

She “could not have thought of ever bungling her administration’s biggest project by careless, crooked and anomalous things as put forth by a close Dy ally, Respicio, a year after the program was successfully launched,” she said in her motion.

Not applicable

Padaca explained the public bidding requirement was not applicable in the rice project because this involved a government social program that would be adopted depending on the availability of implementing partners. She also said she did not give undue preference to Edwinlfi, since her authority to enter into an agreement with the group rested on a resolution of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

“This is not to be bidded because it demands cooperativism among sectors interested and competence in participating in the rice program,” she said.

The Sanggunian resolution, she said, allowed her to enter into an agreement with any nongovernment organization to implement the province’s hybrid rice program. During the project’s duration, any interested NGO was accommodated, she added.

Within inherent powers

Padaca also said the P25 million awarded to Edwinlfi was not a contract similar to the procurement of goods and services, and that the public funds were transferred to farmer beneficiaries selected through cooperation with Edwinlfi.

She added that partnership with NGOs is within the inherent powers of the local government under the law.

Padaca also contended that no malversation was committed because the farmer beneficiaries received the public funds, as records would show.

She pointed out that the release of the money for the rice project was done at the behest of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.