Cagayan mayor nixes fund scam case

TUAO, Cagayan -- Mayor Francisco Mamba Jr. of this town asked the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to quash his two graft charges in relation to the 2004 fertilizer fund scam due to the reported inordinate delay incurred by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Mamba Jr. filed a motion to quash and said that the Commission on Audit (COA) came out with the report denouncing the irregularities back in May 2011. The Office of the Ombudsman Field Investigators came out with their own accusations against Mamba Jr. seven years after.

Mamba Jr. questioned why it took so long for the Office of the Ombudsman to act on the COA report.

“And why was the so-called Special Panel on Task Force Abono Cases submitted its Resolution to the Ombudsman only in July 2017, an unreasonable delay of 14 long years?” he questioned in his motion.

“This long delay of inaction by the prosecutors, we respectfully submit, trampled upon the constitutional right of the accused to speedy trial,” the motion added.

Mamba Jr.’s graft charges are in relation to the reportedly anomalous procurement of 3,333 bottles of Bio-Nature Liquid Organic Fertilizer at P1,500 per bottle, or the total amount of P4,999,500 from Feshan on April 5, 2004.

The local officials caused the partial payment of P3,101,962.50 despite several irregularities, such as the absence of public bidding. They also selected Bio-Nature as goods to be purchased and the price indicated without any project proposal, report, or market survey for available fertilizers.

After the payment, the local officials even failed to perform their duties under the memorandum of agreement with Feshan. They did not conduct periodic monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the funds would not be misappropriated.

The second graft charge was for the same purchase with the same amount made on July 2, 2004.