Pangasinan congresswoman, husband face plunder raps

Over P695-M tobacco taxes 

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – A group of tobacco farmers from North and Central Luzon has filed plunder charges against an incumbent lawmaker of Pangasinan and her husband for alleged misuse of tobacco excise tax funds.

Members of the North and Central Luzon Tobacco Farmers Association Inc. (NCLTFAI) accused Rep. Carmen Cojuangco of the fifth district and her husband, former congressman Mark Cojuangco, of violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

In a complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman on March 16, the NCLTFAI, represented by its president Ruben Lagmay and secretary-general Virginia Salta, said the respondents defrauded the farmers of the proceeds of the tobacco excise tax.

The complainants claimed the couple misappropriated more than P695 million, representing the district’s share in tobacco excise tax from 1997 to 2007.

They presented documents showing P503.7 million of the P569 million in tobacco excise tax, released in three tranches from 2010 to 2012, was used for the construction of farm-to-market roads, palay and corn drying facilities, irrigation canals and purchase of farming equipment in the towns of Alcala, Sto. Tomas, Sison and Villasis. 

The complainants alleged most of the projects implemented by the Cojuangco couple violated provisions of the law, which provides that the tobacco excise tax should be used for the benefit of tobacco farmers.

Republic Act 8240 states that 80 percent of the amount must go to the congressional district, 10 percent to the provincial government and 10 percent to municipalities and cities that produce tobacco.

Aside from plunder and graft, the tobacco farmers asked Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to have the respondents and members of their family subjected to a lifestyle check.