SCAMMERS daw oh! Ga-ABONO wari kita!

FERTILIZER 'SCAMMERS' FALL!

(Clockwise from extreme left) Representatives Carmencita Reyes, Nanette Daza, Oscar Gozos and Federico Sandoval)

Lawmakers face graft raps before Sandiganbayan

By John Constantine G. Cordon, Reporter
A TOTAL of 25 counts of graft, malversation and illegal use of public funds have been filed before the Sandiganbayan over the alleged P728-million fertilizer fund scam against four lawmakers and a number of regional executive directors of the Agriculture department.

Informations transmitted by the Office of the Ombudsman to the anti-graft court showed that former Representatives Oscar Gozos (Fourth District of Batangas), Federico Sandoval (Lone District of Navotas City in Metro Manila), Nanette Daza (Fourth District of Quezon City) and Carmencita Reyes (Lone District of Marinduque) were slapped with charges of violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and illegal use of public funds (technical malversation).

The Office of the Ombudsman charged each lawmaker for allegedly receiving cash that was part of the P728-million fertilizer fund allocation under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani of then-President and now Rep. Gloria Arroyo of the Second District of Pampanga.

Reyes allegedly received P5 million and the three other lawmakers, P3 million each, which all of them used, as purchase orders showed, to buy agricultural equipment such as wood shredders and chippers.
The money was allegedly disbursed from the Agriculture department to regional executive directors who handed the cash to the lawmakers.

The cash was reportedly used to fund the campaign kitty of Mrs. Arroyo when she ran for president in the 2004 elections, which she eventually won.

The Ombudsman found out that former Agriculture Undersecretary Joceyln “Joc-Joc” Bolante orchestrated the disbursement of the fertilizer fund with the approval of then-Agriculture Secretary Luis Ramon “Cito” Lorenzo.

The regional directors of the Agriculture department who were also charged with graft and malversation were Sumail Sekak (Cotabato City), Leo Cañeda (Tacloban City), Dennis Araullo (Quezon City), Oscar Parawan (Zamboanga City), Cesar Rodriguez (San Fernando City), Roger Chio (Davao City), Eduardo Lecciones (Tagbilaran City Unit 7) and Ricardo Oblena (Tagbilaran City Unit 6).

During an earlier interview, acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said that the filing of the charges before the Sandiganbayan took time because of the fact-checking process that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) undertook.

The Office of the Ombudsman affirmed the filing of the charges on April 15. But only on May 6 did the OSP transmit the charges to the Sandiganbayan. At press time, only the graft and malversation charges against the four lawmakers and the regional executive directors of the Agriculture department were sent to the anti-graft court.

Galing sa: manilatimes.net