Sandigan junks graft raps vs Lapid

MANILA, Philippines – Former senator Lito Lapid has been cleared of the graft charges filed against him in connection with the fertilizer fund scam.

 In a 14-page resolution released yesterday, the Sandiganbayan First Division also dismissed the charges against Ma. Victoria Aquino-Abubakar, Leolita Aquino and Dexter Alexander Vasquez who were included in the charge sheet.

“The case...is ordered dismissed for violation of (respondents) rights to speedy disposition of their cases, without prejudice to any civil liability which the province of Pampanga may file against them,” the resolution signed by Associate Justice Reynaldo Cruz stated.

“Four years and six months had lapsed from the time of the filing of the complaint in 2011 until the time the information was filed in 2015. Three years and one month...were consumed in the ombudsman’s preliminary investigation,” the ruling read.

The anti-graft court said the reason cited by the prosecution was “unacceptable,” noting that the ombudsman is mandated to promptly act on complaints lodged before it.

Lapid earlier filed a motion to dismiss the case, saying the delay in the fact-finding and preliminary investigations violated his right to due process.

Aquino-Abubakar, Aquino and Vasquez adopted Lapid’s motion.

The case stemmed from the procurement without public bidding of 3,880 bottles of fertilizer at P1,250 per liter using funds of the Department of Agriculture under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program when Lapid was governor of Pampanga in 2004.

Graft probers said the respondents violated the rules on procurement, noting that P4,761,818.18 were spent ”without ensuring the govermnment benefits from the best products available from the market at the best price.”