Fertilizer scam whistle-blower willing to testify vs Merci

(Updated 5:07 p.m.) The whistle-blower in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam on Tuesday expressed willingness to testify against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez during her impeachment trial at the Senate next month. Jose Barredo, who admitted to being a "runner" in the scam during a Senate probe in 2005, said he can prove that the Office of the Ombudsman did nothing to investigate the officials supposedly involved in the anomaly. "Walang imbestigasyon na naganap… Hindi ako naimbitahan kahit minsan pero nagkakaso ako. Ako na nga ang nagsiwalat, ako pa ang inakusahan," he told reporters on Tuesday. He added that some members of the House prosecution team have already invited him to become a witness in the impeachment trial, but refused to divulge details of the meetings. Barredo was among those recommended by the Office of the Ombudsman to be charged with plunder for "conspiring with one another" to misallocate the funds intended for fertilizer support to farmers. The Ombudsman also recommended plunder raps to be filed against former Agriculture chief Luis Lorenzo and former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc" Bolante, who both served under the administration of former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Both Lorenzo and Bolante have denied involvement in the supposed anomaly. Motion for reinvestigation In the same interview, Barredo said he plans to file a motion for reinvestigation before the Office of the Ombudsman to prove that he should not be charged with plunder. "Para magkakaso ng plunder, kailangan public official ka at nagbulsa ka ng milyon-milyon. Hindi naman ako public official at wala akong nakuha riyan, bakit ako kakasuhan?" he said. He added that the Ombudsman did not even give him a chance to execute a counter-affidavit before recommending the filing of charges against him. Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez, who will serve as Barredo’s counsel, meanwhile said his client’s right to due process may have been violated when he was recommended to be charged even if he cannot be considered as a “co-conspirator" in the scam. "He [Barredo] was a messenger. He was in the lowest rank of the structural responsibility. He never conspired with the principal respondents Lorenzo and Bolante given his position," he said in a separate interview. He likewise dismissed the Office of the Ombudsman’s statement that Barredo was included in the plunder charge sheet because he is not yet a state witness. "We are not looking at the possibility of him [Barredo] being a state witness. We want him removed as respondent," he said. Chavez, who has also earlier expressed intent to testify against Gutierrez in the impeachment trial, however admitted that he is "not confident" that the Office of the Ombudsman will act immediately on their motion. Fertilizer fund scam The fertilizer fund scam involved P728 million allotted for the purchase of fertilizers for farmers in the country, which was allegedly diverted to Arroyo’s campaign kitty in 2004. Mrs. Arroyo has denied the allegation. Gutierrez, also an Arroyo appointee, is set to face the Senate impeachment trial starting May 9 for her alleged inaction in the fertilizer fund scam and four other high-profile cases. She was impeached by the House of Representatives on March 22. — RSJ, GMA News