Fertilizer scam: 17 local execs face raps

ILOILO CITY—The Office of the Ombudsman found probable cause to charge 17 former and incumbent local government and village officials in the Visayas, including Mayor Mariano Malones Sr. of Maasin town in Iloilo province, with violating Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case stemmed from the alleged diversion of fertilizer funds from the farm input-farm implement program to the 2004 presidential campaign of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Sandiganbayan earlier dismissed the plunder case against former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo and former Agriulture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc Joc” Bolante in relation to the P728-million fertilizer fund scam for lack of probable case.

Malones said it appeared that he was being “singled out” because he was the only one or among the few mayors facing criminal charges despite the implementation of the controversial project by many other officials and local governments.

“It’s painful for me because I only implemented the project that helped farmers. But now I could go to jail for this,” he told the Inquirer.

Malones said he was also among those charged with the administrative aspect of the case but this was effectively dismissed when he was reelected to his post. He was invoking the “Aguinaldo doctrine,” which extinguishes administrative cases filed against any public official during the official’s previous term immediately after his or her re-election.

No public bidding

But in a 15-page resolution approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Malones was indicted for acting “with manifest partiality when he dispensed with public bidding and gave (supplier) Feshan unwarranted benefit by directly contracting it as the municipality’s fertilizer supplier,” the anti-graft body said in a statement.

The Ombudsman said Malones and the other respondents allegedly “conspired with one other to facilitate the transaction favoring Feshan.”

In April 2004, Maasin, represented by Malones, entered into a memorandum of agreement with the regional office of the Department of Agriculture for the purchase of “Bio-nature liquid organic fertilizers” worth P999,000 (666 bottles at P1,500 per bottle) from Feshan.

The Ombudsman said investigation showed procurement violations, including direct contracting to favor Feshan and the availability of substitutes cheaper than the purchased fertilizer.

But Malones said the supplier was referred to the municipality by the agriculture department and was certified to be the sole supplier of the fertilizer.

Also indicted with Malones were Cecilio Montefrio (municipal accountant) and Jimmy Borra (officer-in-charge of the accounting office) and Jose Barredo Jr., representative of Feshan Philippines, Inc.

The Ombudsman also found probable cause to indict former and current officials of Tuburan town in Cebu. They include Rose Marie Suezo (former mayor), Virgilia Undag (accountant), Victoria Verano (agricultural officer) and bids and awards committee members Nicodemus Montecillo Jr., Chito Armecin and Elsa Yosalina.

Also indicted was Marc Gulle, representative of Sikap-Yaman Foundation, which supplied 250 bottles of Fil-Ocean liquid fertilizer costing P1,000 per bottle or a total of P250,000.

Overpriced 426 percent

The purchase was overpriced by 426 percent as the average price in the market was only P180 per bottle, according to the Ombudsman, citing a Commission on Audit (COA) audit observation memorandum.

In a third and separate resolution, the Ombudsman indicted Efren Dela Rose, accountant of Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental for irregularities in the purchase of 666 bottles of Bio-nature liquid organic fertilizer costing P1,500 per bottle or a total of P999,000 also from Feshan.

Also indicted were officials of an unspecified village in Himamaylan, including Jeremias Ban, Danilo Lamason, Raymund Vincent Besa, Manuel Tancinco, Nile Nelson Arroz, Adelino Plansa and Jonalyn Lauron.

Barredo was also indicted as representative of the supplier.

The Ombudsman cited a COA audit observation memorandum which found the purchase of the fertilizer to be overpriced by P560,840.91 as the prevailing market price at that time was only P125 per bottle.