THE Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday ordered the indictment of Former Nueva Ecija Representative Rodolfo Antonino over his alleged anomalous disbursement of his pork barrel funds.
In a resolution, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales found probable cause to file criminal charges before the Sandiganbayan against Antonino for two counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act due to an alleged ghost project financed by his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allotment.
Also included in the charge sheet were former Agriculture Secretary and now Bohol Representative Arthur Yap; National Agri-Business Corporation (NABCOR) officials Alan Javellana, Rhodora Mendoza, Encarnita Cristina Munsod, Maria Ninez Guañizo; Buhay Mo Mahal Ko Foundation, Inc. (BMMKFI) representative Marilou Aquino; and Carmelita Barredo of C.C. Barredo Publishing House.
Investigation from the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor disclosed that Antonino requested and directly endorsed NABCOR and BMMKFI to the DA as implementors of his livelihood training kits (LTK) project.
The BMMKFI through Antonino was able to exclusively procure from C.C. Barredo March 22, 2007 a total of 7,275 sets of LTKs worth P2,000.00 each, equivalent to P14.55 million.
A day after the procurement, the supplier allegedly delivered the LTKs in Roxas Boulevard and were accepted and acknowledged by Antonino.
Upon actual field verification, it was found that “these were ghost projects as several local officials of Nueva Ecija denied ever receiving any of the LTKs.”
“Neither was the project supported by any project proposal, physical and audited financial reports, monitoring reports or due diligence conducted in the supplier and NGO-selection process,” the resolution read.
The Ombudsman said “there was also no public bidding or any procurement conducted for the project.”
Morales said Antonino together with NABCOR officials “conspired with private respondents in this disreputable scheme to defraud government coffers.”
She said that the respondents prepared “fictitious reports and other liquidation documents” so that it would appear that the PDAF-funded project was implemented. (Sunnex)