(Eagle News) — The Office of the Ombudsman has found probable cause to file graft charges against former Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias and five others over an allegedly anomalous fertilizer deal.
In a statement on Thursday, the Ombudsman said a complaint for falsification of public documents should also be filed against Lerias and Virginia Cruz, Catalino Olayvar, Teopisto Rojas, Jr., Fernando Moralde and Joseph Duarte of the Provincial Government Bids and Awards Committee for their approval of a P5-million budget for the purchase of fertilizers for use in the province’s rice program in 2006.
According to the Ombudsman, the contract was awarded by PGBAC to the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corporation, but the Office of the Provincial Accountant has “certified that ‘there is no record of an existing memorandum of agreement between the province and PhilPhos.'”
The Ombudsman also denied it had acted with inordinate delay on the complaint filed before its office, saying it had “acted upon every incident promptly, negating inordinate delay.”
