Ex-solon says no ghost project in use of funds

CABANATUAN CITY—A former lawmaker, who has been implicated in the pork barrel scam, appealed to the Ombudsman to take a second look at his case, saying the money that was credited to his pork allocation was used for farmers and not on ghost projects.

In a statement, the lawyer of former Nueva Ecija Rep. Aurelio Umali, who served as lawmaker in 2005, said the funds allocated for Umali’s Priority Development Assistant Fund (PDAF) programs went to farmers.

“What is troublesome here is that the public may already perceive that Umali has been found guilty by final judgment both criminally and administratively even when the legal proceedings are just beginning,” said lawyer Honorio Eduardo Reyes III, Umali’s legal counsel.

Impression of guilt

“With the unfortunate development regarding the supposed findings of probable cause and administrative liabilities against Umali, we ought to, in the meantime, ask the Office of the Ombudsman to take a second hard look at the evidence at hand,” said Reyes.

“Needless to say, the political implication is manifestly unfair and oppressive as it creates an impression of guilt before there is final judgment,” he added.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales last week said her office would press charges against Umali at the antigraft court Sandiganbayan for graft and malversation of public funds in connection with the so-called PDAF scam.

The PDAF was a pork barrel system which the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional.

Conspiracy

According to Morales, Umali would be charged along with detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, who was accused of masterminding the scam. Also to be charged, Morales said, are Renato Manantan, Department of Agriculture (DA) director in Central Luzon; Narcisa Maningding, DA accountant; and Anita Tansipek and Corazon Bautista, nongovernment representatives.

The PDAF complaint was filed by former Nueva Ecija Vice Gov. Edward Thomas Joson, a political rival of Umali, in June 2008.

Joson alleged that Umali allowed the use of his PDAF to finance “overcharged fertilizers allegedly costing 15 times their actual price and irrigation pumps thrice their actual price.”

According to the complaint, 7,920 bottles of liquid fertilizer were bought and distributed to the towns of Gabaldon and General Natividad as “production assistance projects.” It said 12 irrigation pumps were also bought and distributed to farmers in General Natividad.

The fertilizers cost P1,500 a liter or a total of P11.8 million. But citing affidavits of farmer-beneficiaries in Gabaldon, the complaint claimed that the liquid fertilizers cost only P100 a bottle in the market.