The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said it is normal for former agriculture secretary Luisito Lorenzo to deny the massive misuse of funds and shady deals in the agriculture department, because it would spell the end of his career in public service. According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of the group, “our claims are based on hard facts and the Commission on Audit report was done by expert auditors. It also explicitly states that the financial statements submitted by the DA during Lorenzo’s time are not free of material misstatements, meaning the DA financial statements may have been doctored but because of the massiveness of the graft and corruption involved, it cannot be hidden,”

“As for Atty. Ferdinand Hernandez’s, the lawyer of Mr. Lorenzo, claim that this is just another hatchet job, we beg to disagree, what we are doing is for the peasant masses that have been cheated out of funds that should have been for them. What we are doing is for the economy that has been in shambles and what Lorenzo did was squander the hard earned money of taxpayers. It is just incidental that Mr. Lorenzo was the one in office when all of this was exposed,” added the peasant leader

Lorenzo also challenged the group to file charges against him if they have the evidence. But as can be remembered KMP along with the Pamalakaya and Amihan had already filed plunder charges against Lorenzo on the Office of the Ombudsman last May regarding the 482 million fertilizer scam, but no resolution has been reached yet. As for filing a case against him, the lawyers of KMP are already studying its possibility.

As for his part Carl Anthony Ala, public information officer of KMP said that, “if Cito is really not involved in these anomalies then what type of a secretary is he? Does he know anything that is happening in his department? Or is he just a front man of his superiors, who are milking the department? If so he should spill the beans and hold them accountable also,”

“What we presented to the media was the whole COA report on the DA for the year 2003 and there are 11 points of comment of the COA on the DA’s financial statements. What we have is a strong prima facie evidence against the former secretary and his cohorts,” ended Ala. # # #
 

KMP - 13 October 2004