Ex-Bohol guv denies receiving P5M

FORMER Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado denied a report that he benefited from fertilizer funds that were allegedly diverted to help bankroll ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's campaign during the May 2004 polls.

"I did not receive even a single centavo from alleged fertilizer scam...This matter was known to the Magsaysay committee probing the anomaly," Aumentado told Sun.Star in a text message, referring to former Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. who headed the Senate investigation into the fertilizer fund scam in 2005 and 2006.

Based on the 134-page joint resolution of the Office of the Ombudsman released April 15, Aumentado and 12 other incumbent lawmakers were issued sub-allotment advice, allowing them to get funding from the government's Farm Inputs/Farm Implements Program.

Aumentado, now the chairman of the House Committee on Ethics tasked to investigate and take actions involving the conduct of lawmakers, allegedly got P5 million from the fertilizer funds.

The congressman said the provincial agricultural office "received some fertilizer" but these were distributed to the farmer beneficiaries.

Aside from the Bohol lawmaker, Representatives Josefina Joson (Nueva Ecija, first district) Antonio Kho (Masbate, second district), Al Francis Bichara (Albay, second district), Luis Villafuerte (Camarines Sur, third district), Orlando Fua (Siquijor, lone district), George Arnaiz (Negros Oriental, second district), Florencio Miraflores (Aklan, lone district), Augusto "Boboy" Syjuco (Iloilo, second district), Rogelio Espina (Biliran, lone district) and Eleandro Jesus Madrona (Romblon, lone district) also received P5 million each in their previous capacity as either governor or congressman.

Representative Renato Unico Jr. (Camarines Norte, first district), meanwhile, received P3 million when he was congressman of then Camarines Norte's lone district, while Representative Napoleon Dy (Isabela, third district) got a P2-million share when he was mayor of Alicia, Isabela.

The fertilizer fund scam is listed first in the charge sheet of the House of Representatives when it sent its impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to the Senate. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)