THE Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday upheld the indictment of a former representative of Nueva Ecija for alleged involvement in a P15-million pork barrel fund scam.
Ombudsman Conchita Morales-Carpio affirmed the filing of graft and malversation raps against Rodolfo Antonino of the province’s District for the anomalous utilization of his P15,000,000 Priority Development Assistance Fund in 2007.
Antonino is facing two counts of malversation and two counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019.
Also included in the charge sheet were former Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap, and Alan Javellana, Rhodora Mendoza, Encarnita Cristina Munsod andMaria Ninez Guañizo from the National Agri-Business Corp.
Also indicted were Marilou Antonio of Buhay Mo Mahal Ko Foundation Inc. (BMMKFI) and Carmelita Barredo of C.C. Barredo Publishing House.
In a January 2007 letter, Antonino requested and directly endorsed NabCor and BMMKFI to the Department of Agriculture as implementors of his livelihood training kits project.
On March 22, 2007, BMMKFI through Antonino, exclusively procured from C.C. Barredo 7,275 sets of kits worth P2,000 each or a total of P14.55 million.
A day after, the supplier allegedly delivered the kits on Roxas Boulevard which 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.
The project was not even supported by any project proposal, physical and audited financial reports, monitoring reports or due diligence conducted in the supplier and NGO-selection process, neither was there a public bidding.
“The motions for reconsideration are mere rehashes of the issues and claims previously raised by them and already passed upon by the Office,” the Ombudsman’s decision read.
“In a congressional pork barrel system, including the PDAF, it is the legislator who exercises actual control and custody of the PDAF share allocated to him.”