Barbers posts bail over fertilizer scam

MANILA, Philippines -  Former Surigao del Norte governor Robert Lyndon Barbers posted bail before the Sandiganbayan on Friday in connection with the charges he is facing over the fertilizer fund scam.

Barbers paid P140,000 for two counts of graft and two counts of malversation of public funds after the cases were raffled off to the second division of the anti-graft court.

Former provincial engineer and bids and awards committee chairman Vicente Madlos, BAC vice chairman Bob Edera, budget officer Virginia Yuipco and BAC members Teresita Durero, Audie Relliquette and Adolfo Pantillo Sr. as well as Rose Marie Palacio, general manager of Rosa Mia Trading, were included in the charge sheet.

According to the information on the cases, Barbers conspired with the other respondents to purchase 3,332 kilos of fertilizer amounting to P4.9 million from Rosa Mia in May and December 2004.

The Office of the Ombudsman said the fertilizer was overpriced by P4.431 million or P1,330 per  kilo.

Graft probers said there was no public bidding, a violation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

Case dismissed

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan dismissed a graft case filed against Clark Cecil Tiu, former mayor of San Quintin town in Pangasinan, over the alleged anomalous purchase of computer units in 2009 due to the delay in the trial.

In a 10-page resolution, the sixth division of the anti-graft court, said the ombudsman violated the constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases of Tiu and his co-accused, former local officials Marlyn Somera, Marilou Navarro, Virgilio Medenilla, Alberto Marcos, Mabini Labarete, Estrellita Rodanilla and Marcos Nollido.

“The issues for resolution… were not complicated. The documents submitted were not voluminous…The reasons given by the plaintiff do not justify...more than five years of preliminary investigation to resolve the complaint and file a case in court,” the resolution read.