An executive of a fertilizer company walked free after the Sandiganbayan dismissed the criminal charges filed against him for alleged involvement in the P46-million fraudulent purchase of fertilizer by agriculture agencies in 2003.
The anti-graft court dismissed the graft charges against Tomas A. Guibani, an executive of the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corporation (PhilPhos) following the motion filed by the prosecutors of the Ombudsman.
Guibani was accused in the case together with former Agriculture Secretary Luis Ramon Lorenzo Jr. and former National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Arthur C. Yap. They were accused of “conspiring together and confederating with one another” in the allegedly irregular acquisition of 92,158 bags of fertilizer for P46 million from the Philippine Phosphate Corp. through negotiated procurement instead of going through public bidding.
The prosecution filed a motion to withdraw the charges, citing the Supreme Court’s September 14, 2022 decision which ordered the dismissal of the cases against Lorenzo and Yap for violation of their right to speedy disposition of cases.
The anti-graft court directed the prosecution to submit further evidence which were not included in the records, and the prosecution complied on last June 27, even as it decided to grant the motion after reviewing the documents.
“Upon reassessing… and examining the additional evidence submitted by the prosecution, the Court finds that there is insufficient evidence on hand to show that accused Guibani conspired with accused Lorenzo and Yap. Notably, the Informations do not even allege the overt acts he supposedly performed in furtherance of conspiracy,” the anti-graft court said.
“There being insufficient evidence to show the conspiracy, the Court finds that the withdrawal of the Informations is proper,” it ruled. Maricel V. Cruz
“Let the hold departure order against Guibani by reason of these cases be lifted and set aside, and his bond be released, subject to the usual accounting and auditing procedure,” the anti-graft court said in a resolution issued on July 7, 2023.
Sixth Division chairperson Sarah Jane Fernandez wrote the ruling with Associate Justices Kevin Narce Vivero and Maryann Corpus-Mañalac concurring. Maricel V. Cruz