Magsaysay sees ruling on fertilizer fund scam soon

MANILA, Philippines - Former senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., who headed the Senate investigation into the multi million-peso fertilizer fund scam in 2006, said he is expecting the Sandiganbayan to come out with a ruling on the case in the next few months.

Magsaysay, in a visit to The STAR on Monday night, said it is imperative for the Sandiganbayan to put closure to the celebrated case so the public can see this is in line with the reform agenda of the Aquino administration.

He cited information from his lawyer friends handling the case that there is due diligence on the part of the court and the case is moving towards final resolution.

“I’m expecting a conclusion maybe within the next few months. It has been in the Sandiganbayan for over 12 months already,” Magsaysay said.

“I think they want to also prove that they are part of the reform. With the President and the Ombudsman and Supreme Court already in the same mode of reforms – judicial reforms, they want to be a positive part of it, too,” he added.

Magsaysay admitted the case is complicated in the sense that there were so many people involved. He said determining any criminal liability on their part is a tedious process.

“They are not all guilty, except that their names were introduced by Mr. Bolante. So they are going over each and every one of them. It’s not as simple as having just one or two people (involved),” Magsaysay said, referring to former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante.

Magsaysay, former chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture, together with then Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Joker Arroyo, led the initial probe into the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

The probe revealed the funds intended for the purchase of fertilizers and other farm inputs were misused and realigned for various purposes, including allegedly to support the campaign war chest of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004.

The funds were reportedly distributed to a number of pre-determined local government officials, members of the House of Representatives, Bolante, the supplier of the farm inputs and the Department of Agriculture official runners.

Sworn testimonies given during the Senate hearings revealed the supplier of the fertilizer delivered either diluted products or those not suitable for agricultural products.

Some of the farm inputs managed to reach the intended recipients but most of these remained undistributed by the local government units.

In several instances, the allocation went to areas where there were no agricultural lands.

The P728 million is only a portion of a larger fertilizer fund released during the election period of 2004.

According to the committee report prepared by Magsaysay and Arroyo, the total fertilizer funds amounted to P2.806 billion.

A Commission on Audit (COA) report on the use of the fertilizer funds confirmed most of the findings of the Senate.

In 2008, the Blue Ribbon committee under former senator Richard Gordon reopened the probe into the issue.

Bolante, along with former agriculture secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo and former agriculture assistant secretary Ibarra Poliquit, were charged with plunder before the Sandiganbayan.

Magsaysay previously criticized former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for sitting on the case even when she already had all of the documents from the two Senate probes as well as the COA report into the use of the fertilizer funds.

He recalled that it was only when Gutierrez resigned in 2011, amidst an impeachment case filed against her, and Orlando Casimiro was designated as acting Ombudsman that the case was finally filed before the Sandiganbayan.

According to Magsaysay, the information he received was that Lorenzo would no longer face a plunder charge and instead be tried for criminal negligence.

He recalled the first committee report recommended the filing of plunder charges against Lorenzo but this was no longer the case in the second report released by Gordon.

“The program was put together by Mr. Bolante, he was the ‘architect’ of the whole program. He was the one who prepared the list of politicians to be part of it. Cito signed the administrative order but after that he just wanted to (wash his hands of the issue) and turned it over to Usec. Bolante for operations. It is an act of omission,” Magsaysay said.