Sen. Richard Gordon lashed out at the Department of Agriculture (DA) yesterday for its poor record in providing protection for its whistleblowers.
“The killings of (journalist) Marlene Esperat and Teofilo Mojica are just the tip of the iceberg. One way to stop people from blowing the whistle against corruption is to silence them permanently,” Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, said.
Gordon has broached the possibility that the killings of Esperat and Mojica were part of a move to silence others about corruption within the DA.
Esperat was an ex-employee who turned Ombudsman at the DA, while Mojica was an officer of the DA Employee’s Association.
“What does the DA bureaucracy do when one of their own (employees) reports an anomaly? Do they immediately have it investigated and extend due protection to its whistleblower? It is more likely that they don’t, as we have already seen,” he added.
Gordon also noted that Marites Aytona, a key personality in the controversial fertilizer project, had been accosted at gunpoint in Quezon City as she was being driven to the Senate to attend the hearing on the fertilizer fund scam.
The incident, based on police report, occurred at about 11:20 a.m. at Calamba Street in Biak na Bato, Sto. Domingo Village, Quezon City. Aytona was allegedly in the front passenger seat of their vehicle, brother Ramon was at the backseat, while another sibling, Eduardo, was driving, when a man riding a motorcycle allegedly blocked their path and pointed a gun at her.
According to Ramon, they feared that the man was about to shoot his sister and Eduardo was able to maneuver the car to a safe place. The armed man did not attempt to follow them.
Gordon had since put Aytona under the Senate’s custody.
“Whether this was a case of a foiled stoplight robbery or an attempt to keep her quiet is not clear. But viewed together with the killings of Esperat and Mojica, I suspect it can be intimidation, to keep other people quiet about the corruption they may know of in the DA,” Gordon said.
On the appearance of another witness, Gordon had offered Jaime “Jimmy” Paule Senate protection so that he could safely attend and testify on what he knows before the Senate investigation scheduled on Jan. 20.
He stressed that it would be best for other personalities involved in the fertilizer fund scam to surrender, out of concern for their safety, especially after Aytona reported the attempt on her life.
“We can even give them protection, if that is what is keeping them from showing up,” he said.
As investigation into the fertilizer fund scam continues, the Senate Blue Ribbon committee expects to turn up more leads through the appearance of more witnesses who can help in uncovering the network of corruption and exposing the mafia-like operations within the DA.