Bacolod City Legal Officer Allan Zamora filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday against Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella for his alleged failure to account for the purchase of P8 million worth of liquid fertilizer for Bacolod City.

In his affidavit of complaint, Zamora said that Puentevella was among the congressmen who received the fertilizer fund, that was the subject of the Committee Report No. 54 jointly submitted by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (Blue Ribbon) on March 1, 2006, before the House of the Senate of the Philippines.

He said the Committee Report states, among others, that: The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism published a report following "a trial of nearly P3 billion released by the Department of Agriculture during the 2004 presidential campaign." Its investigation found "that big chunks of that money were diverted to congressmen, mayors and governors who are allies of President Arroyo," he added. The reports concluded that "a portion of the money mysteriously ended up in the hands of obscure private foundations and companies" and eventually "siphoned to the Arroyo campaign."

Zamora said the comparative schedules of farm inputs/implements, based on the Special Allotment Release Order issued by the Department of Budget and Management, showed that Puentevella only delivered 1,167 liters of foliar fertilizer.

He said Jose Barredo Jr., one of those who testified on the fertilizer scam before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, in his sworn affidavit, said he informed Puentevella that he had P5 Million from the DA to buy fertilizer but the solon wanted 25 percent in fertilizer, and 75 percent in cash.

Zamora said he received a letter from Narciso San Miguel on Mar. 26, 2007 stating that Puentevella received P8 million from the DA for the purchase of foliar liquid fertilizer in 2004. However, in an affidavit dated Nov. 22, 2005, Barredo claimed that Puentevella received a 75 percent kickback (about P6 million) from his liquid fertilizer allocation.

DENIALS

Zamora said records from the DA regional office show that only a meager 1,167 one-liter bottles of liquid fertilizer had been distributed to some recipients whose names appeared to be either simulated or falsified in the liquidation report, like Barangay Captain Margarita Descalsota of Brgy. 28 and Sangguniang Kabataan chairman Patrick Halili of Brgy. 26, who vehemently denied having received any liquid fertilizer from the Office of the Congressman of Bacolod.

Zamora said the 38-page report on the audit of the P728 million GMA Farm Input Fund (from which the liquid fertilizer fund was sourced out) made by the Commission on Audit reported a skyrocketing overprice in the purchase made by the MOP Foundation, Inc., a foundation/non-government organization, some of whose incorporators per Securities and Exchange Commission records, include members of the solon's family and his very close associates.

MOP FOUNDATION

MOP is believed to stand for "Monico Ogtong Puentevella", the solon's full name.

Zamora also said the COA also reported that the MOP Foundation bought fertilizer for P3 million when the actual cost should have been only P240,000, which means an overprice of P2.76 million. The little-known foundation associated with Puentevella and his family claimed it bought 2,400 one-liter bottles of foliar fertilizer for Bacolod farmers which cost P1,250 each, he said.

COA investigators, however, discovered that the one litter bottles should have cost only P100 each.

Zamora said the way these 2,400 bottles were actually distributed remains a mystery to date, since the DA regional office shows that only 1,167 bottles of such fertilizer were distributed and these were sourced, not from the P3 million given to the MOP Foundation, but from the P8 million allocation of the solon.

This means Puentevella has to account for a total of at least P8.76 million out of the P11 million fund released to him and his foundation, Zamora further said.

He also said the government was defrauded of several millions of pesos by such anomalous act of Puentevella.

Eric Tenerife, Puentevella's media liaison, said the case is bound to fail because all the allegations of Zamora are based on the reports and statements of Barredo and San Miguel which are hearsay.

He said Zamora has not verified if the statements of Barredo and San Miguel are true or not. The statement of San Miguel was based on the statement of Barredo, so how can Zamora attest to the truth of all the foregoing facts when he does not even know Barredo? He asked.

He did not comment, however, on the Report of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, or on the findings of the Commission on Audit on the case.

Tenerife confirmed that the MPO Foundation exists and that it will issue a statement and defend itself in the proper court.*CGS

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