Ex-solon, DAR execs face charges over fertilizer scam

By: Tetch Torres-Tupas - 10 years ago

Office of the Ombudsman. NOY MORCOSO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has ordered the filing of charges against former Marinduque Representative Edmundo Reyes and officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in connection with the fertilizer fund scam.

Aside from Reyes, to be charged before the Sandiganbayan are DA officials Dennis Araullo, Raymundo Braganza, Balagtas Torres, Rodolfo Guieb, Lucille Odejar, and Dory Iranzo.

Included in the charges was Margie Tajon Luz, president and chairman of the board of trustees of Gabaymasa Foundation, Inc., a nongovernment organization.

The Ombudsman found them liable for malversation of public funds and violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

In her order, Morales said Reyes and the DA officials chose Gabaymasa as a project implementor under the government’s Farm Inputs and Farm Implements Program even when it was not a properly accredited NGO.

Commission on Audit (COA) Circular No. 96-00 provides that NGOs should undergo accreditation, verification and validation before being allowed to implement projects.

Earlier, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) identified Marinduque as one of the beneficiaries in the program to supply farmers with fertilizers. The province was then given P5 million from the P728-million allotted for the program.

According to the resolution by the Ombudsman’s Task Force Abono, the DA Regional Field Unit IV represented by Araullo, and Reyes representing Marinduque entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Luz on March 10, 2004, to buy P5-million worth of fertilizers. Named supplier of the fertilizers was B.T. Mangrubang.

Task Force Abono said Gabaymasa was not based in the community where the project was to be implemented as its place of business was in Quezon City. Also, it only submitted its 2003 financial statement in violation of the COA circular which requires the submission of FS for the last three years to ensure that was financially stable.

The task force also noted that Gabaymasa had no proven track record in the field of the agriculture.

Ombudsman Morales concluded that “public officers Reyes, Araullo, Braganza, Torres, Guieb, Odejar, and Iranzo, in conspiracy with Luz consented or, through abandonment or negligence, permitted Gabaymasa to take the P5M fund in the guise of lawful disbursement” exhibiting “a deliberate lack of care or diligence in the performance of their respective duties…to achieve a common design of defrauding the government.”

At the same time, the Ombudsman found Araullo, Braganza, Torres, Guieb, Odejar and Iranzo administratively guilty of serious dishonesty, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

It then ordered their dismissal from the service with accessory penalties of forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.