Bolante, Lorenzo face plunder raps

The plunder cases against former agriculture officials for the P728 million fertilizer fund scam will now move to court.

Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro on Thursday ordered the filing of plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan against former agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante, former Secretary Luis Lorenzo and Assistant Secretary Ibarra Poliquit.

This was after Casimiro denied their motions for reconsideration challenging the earlier resolution that found them liable for the alleged misuse of agriculture funds, the Office of the Ombudsman said in a statement.

The Office of the Ombudsman will also file the plunder charges against the other personalities found liable for the same offense in the earlier resolution, according to Casimiro’s spokesperson Mary Rawnsle Lopez.

They are private fertilizer suppliers Jaime Eonzon Paule, Marilyn Araos, Joselito Flordeliza, Marites Aytona, Jose Barredo and Leonicia Marco-Llarena.

Barredo had bewailed the earlier Ombudsman resolution, issued in April, ordering him charged with plunder. He had said that he was just a runner in the scheme, and had thought he had gotten immunity after he became the Senate’s whistle-blower on the alleged scam during the blue ribbon committee hearings.

Lopez said that the filing of the motions for reconsideration had stopped the Office of the Ombudsman from filing the plunder charges earlier. With the motions now resolved, the cases could be filed in court.

The records of the case will now be transmitted to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, who will take charge of the actual filing.

Casimiro also denied the motions for reconsideration filed by former Quezon City Rep. Nanette Castelo-Daza, former Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes and former Catanduanes Gov. Leandro Verceles.