Appeals court overturns 2014 Ombudsman dismissal of Cito Lorenzo

Former agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. FILE PHOTO

THE COURT of Appeals has reversed the 2014 decision of the Office of the Ombudsman that dismissed former Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo Jr. and four others over administrative liabilities stemming from a bidding anomaly at a government financing agency for farmers.

The appellate court’s 15th Division, in a decision dated May 31, dismissed the Ombudsman’s decision finding Lorenzo and four other Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) officials guilty of grave misconduct and penalizing them with dismissal, fines and perpetual disqualification from public office.

“For lack of jurisdiction and there being no substantial evidence, the administrative charges filed against petitioner [Lorenzo] are hereby dismissed,” the court said in the 14-page decision written by Justice Jhosep Lopez and concurred in by division members Ramon Garcia and Leoncia Dimagiba.

The case stemmed from Quedancor Swine Program, a credit system set up in 2004 to support swine raisers in their hog fattening and breeding activities.

Under the program, a farmer-borrower could apply for a loan with Quedancor, the proceeds of which were not given in cash but in the form of input supplies like hogs, gilts, feeds, medicines and technical assistance, which were to be claimed through a purchase order issued by a Quedancor district office and presented to an accredited input supplier.

The Ombudsman found that Lorenzo and the other board members failed to comply by approving consolidate guidelines in April 2014 that violated competitive public bidding regulations for the accreditation of suppliers.

Lorenzo, in his petition, said he merely noted the Quedancor guidelines in April 2004, adding that the program went into full force the following month but he left office in August 2004. He said there was no violation of the procurement law.