Lito Lapid indicted in fertilizer fund scam

Senator Lito Lapid. INQUIRER file photo

Sen. Lito Lapid has been indicted for graft in the Sandiganbayan in connection with the overprice of P4.3 million in the purchase of liquid fertilizers when he was still governor of Pampanga province in 2004.

The amount was part of the P728 million in fertilizer funds that were allegedly diverted to the campaign of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her presidential bid in the May 2004 elections.

Lapid on Thursday welcomed the filing of the formal complaint.

“(He) sees this as an opportunity to once and for all prove that he is innocent of the charges brought against him,” a statement from the senator’s camp  said.

But the senator lamented the pace by which the case had moved.

“It was unfortunate that it took almost 12 years and the conclusion of his two full terms as a senator of the Republic before such matter is put to the appropriate forum,” the statement added.

No public bidding

In a complaint, the Office of the Ombudsman said Lapid violated Section 3(e) and Section 3(g) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, when he approved the purchase of fertilizers without a public bidding.

Charged along with Lapid were then provincial treasurer Vergel Baltazar Yabut and provincial accountant Benjamin de Guzman Yuzon.

Also included as private respondents were Dexter Alexander Vasquez, owner of DA Vasquez Macro-Micro Fertilizer Resources, and Ma. Victoria Aquino-Abubakar and Leolita Aquino, incorporators of Malayan Pacific Trading Corp. (MPTC).

In a complaint signed by Assistant Special Prosecutor Omar Sagadal, the Ombudsman said Lapid and others acted “with evident bad faith, manifest partiality or… gross inexcusable negligence” when they entered into an agreement for the purchase of 3,880 liters of foliar fertilizers.

Instances of fraud

The complaint said the project was tainted with “irregularities and instances of fraud” as it was completed in only 14 days.

Besides their failure to conduct a competitive open bidding, the antigraft body said Lapid issued a certification showing that there was no alternative to foliar fertilizers “in order to unlawfully resort to direct purchase despite the availability” of cheaper brands of fertilizers.

The Ombudsman also faulted the respondents for claiming in the purchase order that “macro-micro foliar fertilizer” was a brand of farm input, which violated RA 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The complaint said each bottle of liquid fertilizer was overpriced by P1,100 each, shortchanging the government by a total of P4,268,000.

The Ombudsman also discovered that Vasquez registered the fertilizer sold by his company with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority only on Aug. 15, 2005, more than a year after completing the transaction with the Pampanga provincial government.

No license to operate

“MPTC has no certificate of license to operate and product registration,” the complaint added.

In addition, the antigraft body questioned the “inordinate speed by which the transaction was consummated.”

It said Lapid issued a purchase order on May 24, 2004, just 12 days after Vasquez submitted a price quotation for the fertilizers.

Merely two days later, the farm inputs were delivered and the MPTC was paid in full. With reports from Niña P. Calleja in Manila and Justine Dizon, Inquirer Central Luzon