MANILA, Philippines—Former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. is open to the idea of taking the witness stand when the Senate tries impeached Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for her alleged inaction on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.
Magsaysay, who presided over the Senate inquiry into the scam in 2005 and 2006, has some reservations about testifying at what is expected to be a high-profile impeachment trial, but said he would do so if necessary.
“I can just make a statement. I don’t have to appear,” he said in an interview. “But if asked to, I have to appear. I have to serve my duty as a Filipino citizen.”
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), one of the two complainants in the impeachment of Gutierrez, had been enlisting Magsaysay to join its pool of witnesses and bolster its case against the Ombudsman.
The former senator, now a businessman tending a dairy farm, said that if he did testify, he would possibly confirm the highlights of the Senate inquiry as well as the recommendations of the investigating agriculture committee that he then chaired.
In 2006, Magsaysay’s committee recommended that former Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo, former Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante and several other agriculture officials be prosecuted, and that then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be “held accountable” for mismanagement of the fertilizer fund.
‘Too late’
But it was only last week that a special panel of the Office of the Ombudsman recommended the filing of plunder charges against Lorenzo et al. Malacañang said the recommendation was “too little, too late.”
Magsaysay said the delayed reaction had “defeated the purpose” of the Office of the Ombudsman, which he described as “an important agency to fight corruption.”
“They just dragged their feet. They gave a signal to the public that [the issue] is not important enough, encouraging a lot of corruption in the bureaucracy,” he said.
Gutierrez was impeached by the House of Representatives for alleged betrayal of public trust arising from her inaction on corruption cases implicating Arroyo, who now represents the second district of her home province of Pampanga.
The Senate is convening as an impeachment court on May 9 to try the Ombudsman.
No. 1 article
The purported diversion of P728 million of the farmers’ fertilizer fund to Arroyo’s presidential campaign in 2004 tops the six articles of impeachment.
The House prosecutors consider it their strongest complaint against Gutierrez, who has rebuffed calls for her to resign and said she was prepared to be tried by the Senate.
Bayan Muna party-lisRep. Neri Colmenares, one of the 11 prosecutors, has confirmed that former Solicitor General Frank Chavez and Danilo Ramos of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas would lead the witnesses on the main article of impeachment.
But former Sen. Richard Gordon, who presided over a separate inquiry into the fund scam in 2008 as chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee, is not keen on taking the witness stand against Gutierrez.
Now hosting an AM radio show on TV5 after his failed run for the presidency in 2010, Gordon said he would testify only if there was “a good reason” for it.
“My report speaks for itself. That’s very complete. They can use it as evidence,” he said in an interview early this month. “I don’t want to be there. I don’t need to be there. There has to be a good reason.”
Gordon’s committee recommended in 2009 the filing of plunder charges against Bolante and nine other personalities.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile agreed that the former senators could only testify on the fact that their committees had looked into the fund scam, and that they had issued specific recommendations.