In December last year, the Sandiganbayan cleared principal defendant Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante together with his immediate boss, former agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr., of plunder in connection with accusations of misusing P723 million in fertilizer funds for the 2004 presidential campaign of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The anti-graft court had described Bolante as the “central key player” in the scam, which saw farm support funds distributed during the election season to about 100 politicians, mostly members of the House of Representatives, including those whose districts did not include farms or agribusinesses. But the Sandiganbayan said the prosecution failed to prove that Bolante and Lorenzo illegally amassed the funds for their personal use, so there was no plunder.
Earlier, Arroyo herself was cleared of involvement in the scam. Graft cases against several of the fund beneficiaries have also been dismissed by various courts, which cited the inordinate delay in the filing of the indictments by the Office of the Ombudsman. Among those cleared were former senator Lito Lapid and former congressmen Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque, Antonio Cuenco and Antonio Yapha Jr. of Cebu and Abraham Khalil Mitra of Palawan.
At the rate the Sandiganbayan was dismissing the fertilizer fund cases, there were fears that the only culprits that might be held accountable in the scam were taxpayers, who foolishly provided the P723 million to government crooks to do as they pleased.
Last Friday, public dismay was assuaged a bit after the anti-graft court finally convicted a beneficiary of the scam. Former Sorsogon governor Raul Lee could serve up to 40 years in prison for four counts of graft and fined P2.591 million for the purchase without public bidding of liquid fertilizer amounting to P3.199 million in May and June 2004. Lee, however, may still manage to stay out of prison during the long appeal process.
President Duterte, who keeps railing against corruption, need not be told about this tortuous process of trying to get the corrupt behind bars. The difficulty of making criminals pay in this country is one of the principal reasons behind his take-no-prisoners approach to fighting criminality, particularly the drug menace. The same problem underpins continuing public support for his vicious war on drugs. So far he has not opted for similar short cuts in his war on corruption. But with the disappointing progress of corruption cases through the courts, there are people who might support Tokhang to eradicate graft.