Sandigan to proceed with trial of N. Cotabato lawmaker
The Sandiganbayan has upheld its earlier ruling to proceed with the trial of North Cotabato second district Rep. Nancy Catamco for graft and malversation of public funds in connection with the fertilizer fund scam.
In a resolution promulgated on Oct. 12, the anti-graft court’s sixth division junked Catamco’s motion to reverse its Aug. 7 ruling, which denied her motion to dismiss the cases.
The court also dismissed the motion for reconsideration filed by the principal accused – Edgar Rama, former mayor and now vice mayor of Poro, Cebu – and his co-accused Councilors William Surbano, Gorgonia Gonzales, Sergio Zurita, Nilo Gorgonio and Catamco’s former husband Pompey Perez.
Catamco and Perez were named private respondents as former owners of Perzebros Co., which supplied liquid fertilizer for the implementation of the Farm Inputs and Farm Implements Program of the Department of Agriculture in Poro.
“Contrary to the accused’s claim that the prosecution failed to justify the delay, the court found that the prosecution satisfactorily explained the reason for the delay in the fact-finding and preliminary investigation,” the court ruling stated.
“The Office of the Ombudsman had to meticulously review and evaluate numerous records... considering the steady stream of cases,... the delay was reasonable,” it added.
The court said preliminary investigation started only on June 21, 2013 when a complaint was filed by the ombudsman’s Task Force Abono and not when the task force started its field investigation in 2006.
Based on the charge sheets, the Poro municipal government received P5 million from the DA-Central Visayas office in April 2004.
Graft probers said Rama conspired with the other municipal officials to award the contract to Perzebros without public bidding and even though the firm was only twomonth-old at the time.
The ombudsman said the Commission on Audit also found out that the fertilizer was overpriced by P1,092 per bottle or a total of P4.58 million.