Another dead solon charged by Ombudsman

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has filed criminal charges against another lawmaker who had already passed away.

In separate case information sheets filed on April 13 before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, the ombudsman charged the late former Ilocos Norte First District representative Roque Ablan Jr. with four counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Ablan passed away on March 26 of this year. He was 85.

Ablan represented the first district of Ilocos Norte from 1968 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2010.

Based on the charge sheets prepared by graft investigation and prosecution officer Rachel Cariaga-Favila, Ablan conspired with six officials of the Department of Agriculture Region I (Ilocos Region) in procuring overpriced fertilizer in 2004, with the benefit of public bidding required under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The ombudsman said that on March 2, 2004, Ablan's office procured 1,980 bottles of Fast Tracts Grow Foliar Fertilizer and 53 units of Quan My Backpack Fertilizer Sprayer from private supplier Cel-Ann General Merchandise.

The ombudsman said the fertilizer was sold at P1,500 per liter/bottle or a total of P2.97 million “when other commercial liquid fertilizer, with equal or higher micro nutrient content were readily available at that time” for only P165 per liter, thereby resulting in a total overprice of P2.643 million.

Named as Ablan's co-accused in the graft cases were six DA-Region I officials namely; executive director Reinerio Belarmino Jr., chief administrative officer Francisco Casil, accountant Avelina Soriano, administrative officer Lourdes Gonzales and supervising agriculturists Jonathan Bugaoan and Maribel Cabradilla.

Also named as respondents were Editha Jacaban and Remegio Cortes, proprietor and representative, respectively, of Cel-Ann General Merchandise.

The DA officials are also facing four counts each of malversation of public funds under the Revised Pena Code for allegedly processing the approval and release of checks to Cel-Ann

Under Article 89 of the Revised Penal Code, “criminal liability is totally extinguished” upon the death of the accused but the government is not precluded from prosecuting the other respondents in the case.

It was not the first time that the ombudsman charged a dead public official. In October last year, it filed graft charges against Maguindanao Second District representative Simeon Datumanong, who passed away in February of that year, in connection with the alleged misuse of P3.686-million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel in 2012 to 2013.

The ombudsman, in August last year, also filed a graft case against Mountain Province representative Maximo Dalog who died on June 3.

In a statement issued after the story of its filing of a case against Dalog came out in newspapers, the ombudsman defended that “it is not expected to know or take notice of the death of an accused without a proper manifestation from his counsel”.

“Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales stressed that the death of a party to a case is not among the matters that her office is mandated to take notice of,” the ombudsman said.

The ombudsman, however, admitted that the case filed against a deceased accused is facing “inevitable dismissal.”