FERTILIZER FUND SCAM
Court orders arrest of
solon, 5 others
No bail for Lanao del Norte lawmaker
1:11
am | Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
The
Sandiganbayan. FILE PHOTO
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The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has ordered the
arrest of Lanao del Norte Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo and five other persons for
malversation of P5 million in public funds, in one of the hundreds of dubious
transactions made in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in 2004 allegedly
orchestrated by then Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante.
Dimaporo is the fifth lawmaker to be
implicated in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam after Representatives Oscar
Gozos of Batangas province, Federico Sandoval of Navotas City, Nanette
Castelo-Daza of Quezon City, and Carmencita Reyes of Marinduque province.
Bolante is on trial in the
Sandiganbayan on charges of plunder in connection with the fertilizer fund
scam.
He is accused of diverting taxpayers’
money to the 2004 campaign of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Beyond
P5M
Requests for funding from the
Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund beyond P5 million have to be
approved by the Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization.
On the recommendation of the Ombudsman,
Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Roland B. Jurado has denied bail to Dimaporo in
the malversation charge.
But Jurado approved a P30,000 bail for
Dimaporo in the charge of causing undue injury to the government.
A source said the 63-year-old lawmaker
has requested that he be detained at Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan
City, as he has a heart condition.
The first hearing is set next Monday.
The Sandiganbayan issued the arrest
warrant on July 31, after finding no reason to overturn the Ombudsman’s finding
of probable cause to indict Dimaporo and his five codefendants for malversation
of public funds through falsification of public documents.
Dimaporo and his codefendants, former
provincial agriculturist Isabelo Luna and private citizens Felizardo Dragon,
Evangeline Ontiveros, Rosalinda Bisenio and Elmer Sayre, were accused of graft
for conspiring to obtain the release of taxpayers’ money for the fictitious
purchase of 10,000 bags of Saka organic fertilizer under the farm inputs and
farm implements program of the Department of Agriculture.
The four private individuals were
officers of Lanao Foundation Inc. (LFI), an NGO Dimaporo formed about two
decades ago and which was used as conduit for the fertilizer fund.
Dimaporo and the other defendants
allegedly used fake, undated inspection reports, undated acceptance reports,
physical and financial status reports, and a list of farmer-beneficiaries to
simulate the delivery of organic fertilizer to Dimaporo’s office and its
distribution to farmers in the second district of Lanao del Norte through Lanao
Foundation.
No delivery
In her decision in October 2012,
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said no fertilizer was delivered and
distributed “thereby giving unwarranted benefit, advantage, or preference to
LFI and causing undue injury to the government.”
Dimaporo and his wife, Imelda, are also
facing graft charges for the misappropriation of P50 million in state funds
intended for the purchase high-breed cattle.
The cattle were supposed to be
distributed to farmers, but were allegedly diverted to Dimaporo’s farm in
Mamagum, Sultan Naga Dimaporo.
First posted 6:42 pm | Friday, August 2nd, 2013
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