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| Former Governor and Congressman Abdullah "Bobby Dimaporo |
12:18 am | Tuesday,
August 6, 2013
The Sandiganbayan,
together with the National Bureau of Investigation, served the arrest warrant
Monday on Lanao del Norte Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo in his suite at Cardinal
Santos Medical Center in Greenhills, San Juan City, in connection with the
P728-million fertilizer scam in 2004.
Judicial
Officer Romulo Barrozo oversaw the arrest order served at 11 a.m. after which
Dimaporo’s fingerprints were taken, his personal details recorded and his mug
shots taken.
A court
source said the group agreed to allow Dimaporo to stay in the hospital under
the watch of the NBI even though the anti graft court had ordered that no bail
would be granted for the malversation charges against him for the alleged ghost
delivery of fertilizers to a nongovernment organization (NGO) in 2004.
Dimaporo’s
lawyers presented the Sandiganbayan officials with the doctor’s recommendation
allowing him to remain under hospital care after suffering chest pains and
acute myocardial infraction or a mild heart attack a few days ago.
Last week,
Dimaporo was charged by the Ombudsman with malversation of public funds and
graft for the purchase and delivery of 10,000 bags of Saka Organic fertilizers
worth P5 million under the Farm Inputs and Farm Implement Program of the
Department of Agriculture through the Lanao Foundation Inc. (LFI), an NGO
formed by the lawmaker in 1994. The Ombudsman claimed that Dimaporo faked the
delivery receipts for the fertilizer.
Dimaporo’s
co accused are former provincial agriculturist Isabelo Luna and private
individuals Felizardo Dragon, Evangeline Ontiveros, Rosalinda Bisenio and Elmer
Sayre.
The bogus
fertilizer transaction is one of several projects that constituted the P728-million
fertilizer fund scam orchestrated by then Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn
“Joc-Joc” Bolante in 2004 as part of an alleged plan to divert taxpayers’ money
to the campaign kitty of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The
prosecution has 10 days to comment on Dimaporo’s petition for hospital arrest.
The defense will have another 10 days to respond to the prosecution.
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