Magsaysay back after three-month medical furlough in US

After a three-month medical leave, Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. is back at work with a clean bill of health.

In a radio interview yesterday, Magsaysay said he underwent surgery in the United States to have a tumor removed from his prostate.

Magsaysay said the walnut-sized tumor was cancerous and had to be removed surgically by doctors at the Stanford University Medical Center in California.

"It’s all systems go after the surgery. I have no more health problems. (I’m) ready to go. It’s like I’ve been given a new life," Magsaysay said.

He left for the US on March 3, a day after he submitted the Senate committee on agriculture’s report on the investigation into the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

At the time, Magsaysay declined to reveal his condition, saying only that he was going to the US for a comprehensive medical checkup and de-stressing program, or what he described as "preventive maintenance."

Magsaysay returned Monday and was back at his desk the following day.

He said that even though Congress is currently in recess, he has to report to his office because of the amount of work that accumulated over the time he was on leave.

During yesterday’s interview, Magsaysay immediately called the attention of the Office of the Ombudsman for its failure to act on the report his committee submitted on the fertilizer fund scam.

The report implicated several prominent personalities, including President Arroyo, former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante and a number of the Department of Agriculture’s regional directors, in the scam.

Comprehensive reports from the Commission on Audit (COA) were also attached to the committee report, which indicated there was massive misuse of fertilizer funds through bogus and overpriced purchases of fertilizers that were to be provided for rice farmers.

The report revealed that almost all of the intended recipients of the fertilizers and farm implements never received anything, while DA personnel who conducted the procurement made a killing in kickbacks.

Magsaysay lamented that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has been sitting on several cases brought before her, including the 2003 case of Marlene Esperat, the plunder case against former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) comptroller Gen. Carlos Garcia and the fertilizer fund scam.

"Can you imagine the young officers (who) want to clean up the Armed Forces? They are closely observing this and then nothing is being accomplished and then there’s the fertilizer scam," Magsaysay said.

"Everything is being held at a standstill. The public can see that the Ombudsman who was appointed by the President herself is not doing anything," he added.

The President recently announced the release of P1 billion for an all-out war against graft and corruption, with the Office of the Ombudsman seen as the agency that stands to benefit the most from an additional capital outlay.

Senators have criticized this move by the President and argued that political will — not additional funding — is the solution to the problem of the Ombudsman’s slow progress on graft cases.

Magsaysay expressed his disappointment with the Ombudsman and other agencies tasked to prosecute wrongdoers in government, such as the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC).

"They should complete all of the charges and forward these to the Sandiganbayan. When there is crime there should be punishment," Magsaysay said.