MANILA -- Former Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado, who now represents the province’s second district, denied the report of the Office of the Ombudsman that he benefited from the fertilizer funds.

“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.

Aumentado was referring to former Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. who headed the Senate investigation on 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 11 other incumbent lawmakers were issued sub-allotment advice which allowed 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.(Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)