Senator Lito Lapid. INQUIRER file photo
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—The P5-million fertilizer anomaly that the Office of the Ombudsman has uncovered in Pampanga province, and for which Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid and five others face trial for graft, has provided a window to the P728-million fertilizer scam in 2004, a leader of a farmers’ group in Central Luzon said.
Joseph Canlas, chair of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL), said in an interview yesterday that the Ombudsman’s resolution could show “patterns through which public funds were stolen using farmers as innocent victims.”
Canlas said the Lapid case was important because “the brains of the P728-million [fertilizer] scam, including (former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn) “Joc-joc” Bolante, have been hiding the truth from us.”
Pampanga Rep. Joseller Guiao said the Ombudsman’s resolution sending the case to the Sandiganbayan “gave a good venue and opportunity to the senator (Lapid) to clear himself and for the Kapampangan to advance their cause for justice.”
Guiao, a former Pampanga vice governor, said the Office of the Ombudsman, under former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, “dismissed outright” two graft cases in connection with alleged irregularities in the collection of quarry tax and revenues, and double funding of infrastructure projects by the senator and his son, former Gov. Mark Lapid.
Former Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio said the graft charge has to be seriously looked into.
“If Senator Lito is not liable, let the charges be dropped for he should not be tried by publicity. But if he is liable, he should face the full consequences of his act. No one should be above the law,” Panlilio said.
The resolution, approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on June 3, relied on the findings of her agency’s Task Force Abono, the complainant in the case.
Lapid declined to issue further statements. His spokesperson, Alex Marcelino, yesterday said the senator will wait for the Ombudsman’s action on his motion for reconsideration.
The Task Force Abono submitted evidence that it was Bolante, as Department of Agriculture (DA) undersecretary for finance and administration, who issued a memorandum to the DA assistant secretary for field operations requesting the approval of suballotment advise for Pampanga’s P5 million.
The amount was covered by Special Allotment Release Order No. E-04-00164 for P728 million dated Feb. 3, 2004, for the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program of the DA.
A special panel for the fertilizer fund scam upheld the findings that instead of doing a competitive bidding, the provincial government directly purchased 3,800 bottles of liquid fertilizer, violating Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act).
The mode of procurement was direct purchase because the distributor, the Malayan Pacific Trading Corp. (MPTC), claimed to have exclusive distribution of the product.
The panel said that at a cost of P1,250 per liter or bottle, this was “1,000 percent higher than the other fertilizers of its kind.” Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon
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