Ex-Eastern Samar gov, co-accused walk on fertilizer fund scam raps

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FORMER Eastern Samar governor Clotilde Salazar and a member of the provincial government’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) have won their appeal before the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division for the dismissal of two counts of graft charges filed against them and several other local officials in 2018.

The charges involved the alleged misuse of P10 million public funds from the Farm Input and Farm Implements Program (FIFIP) of the Department of Agriculture in 2004.

Salazar, who was elected as the first female governor of the province in 2001, and former BAC member Manuel Japzon were named co-defendants of Rep. Marcelino Libanan and other provincial officials who were accused of giving preference to Akame Marketing which was chosen as the supplier of fertilizers under the DA program through direct contracting.

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The Special Panel on Fertilizer Fund Scam said the respondent public officials chose Akame’s NBEM-21 microbial inoculant soil activator (NBEM fertilizer) even if it was not registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA). It added that the supplier also had no license for such trade.

However, the Supreme Court in a resolution dated December 5, 2022, ordered the dismissal of the cases against Libanan and the rest of the other defendants after sustaining their argument that the Ombudsman violated their right to speedy disposition of their cases when it took probers 2013 to 2018 to finish the preliminary investigation.

Salazar and Japzon did not join the petition for review of certiorari before the SC and instead asked the Sandiganbayan to junk their cases, but were overruled in a resolution dated January 3, 2024.

In their Motion for reconsideration dated January 31, 2024, the two defendants argued that they are similarly situated as the rest of their co-defendants whose rights the SC upheld in its ruling.

They pointed out that while they did not join the petition before the SC, they did not fail to invoke their right as in fact they adopted Libanan’s arguments raising the issue of inordinate delay.

Although the Sandiganbayan sustained the prosecution’s stand that the motion for reconsideration was filed two days beyond the set deadline, the court said relaxing the rules is warranted.

“There is merit in accused Salazar and Japzon’s Motion for Reconsideration, and denying the same outright solely by reason of their counsel’s erroneous application of the rules will result in injustice,” the court declared.

At the same time, the Sandiganbayan said the SC ruling must likewise apply to both since they were subjects of the same preliminary investigation that the High Court declared was attended by inordinate delay of five years.

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