Corruption at the BSP and DFA

How did the Office of the Ombudsman arrive at the conclusion that former President Gloria didn’t have anything to do with the P728-million fertilizer fund scam when it was obviously used as her campaign fund in the 2004 presidential election?

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales cleared the former President of plunder charges arising from ghost deliveries of fertilizer and other farm inputs to farmers.

Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante allegedly engineered the fund scam on orders of Mike Arroyo, husband of the former president.

It was highly unlikely Gloria didn’t know what her husband, a Rotary Club buddy of Bolante, was doing.

A friend in the Arroyo administration once told me that the couple had only “one pocket,” meaning what he earned from allegedly shady deals went to both of them.

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Ombudsman Morales seems unfit for the job of guarding the citizenry’s interests because she appears to file charges against or clear respondents in graft cases according to her whim.

Her claim to fame is testifying against her former colleague in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Renato Corona, at his impeachment trial in the Senate.

Recent events have shown that Corona was less corrupt than the senator-judges who found him guilty of failure to file his correct statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Clearing Gloria of the plunder charge in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam seems to have been decided by Morales without much thought.

The filing of murder charges against the Navy officers in the death of Ensign Philip Pestaño in 1995 was not well studied by Morales.

Every law enforcement agency that investigated young Pestaño’s death—the National Bureau of Investigation, Western (now Manila) Police District and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)—concluded that the young officer committed suicide.

Even the forensics expert hired by Pestaño’s parents, Dr. Raquel del Rosario-Fortun, came to the same conclusion.

Morales obviously didn’t refer to records of the case when she decided to file the case in court.

Now, how can you trust an Ombudsman who files cases in the Sandiganbayan or dismisses them on whim or caprice?

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A friend told me Morales regrets having filed murder charges against the Navy officers, among the brightest in the Armed Forces?

Why?

Was she pressured or she just made a mistake?

If so, what’s keeping her from taking back her decision?

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Why are most of the passports issued recently by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) easily torn?

Because of corruption at the DFA and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

A French company, Oberthur, owned the system for the e-passports, the same firm that printed the “Arrovo” bills, which shamed then President Gloria Arroyo.

The BSP looked for another firm to make the e-passports; another French company, Arjo, was awarded the contract.

But why was the contract awarded to another French company, which also made defective passports?

My sources in the BSP say a Chinese-Filipino whom I featured in this space several months ago was responsible for the choice.

BSP insiders told me this person is so influential among BSP higher-ups he was able to orchestrate the reshuffle of officials at the Banknotes Securities and Printing Department.

This is the office that validates the technical specifications for passports and peso bills.

A top official of the BSP and a high-ranking DFA official are said to be the sponsors at the wedding of this influential person.