The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the peasant lawyers’ group Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA) shared the same view that yesterday’s Department of Budget and Management (DBM) fire was a part of a running cover-up of the P728 million fertilizer scam which Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo used for the last elections. 

According to Ka Willy Marbella, internal deputy secretary general of KMP, “Malacanang is indeed getting desperate to hide the truth behind the fertilizer scam. It knows that the case against Gloria is solid and the only means left for it is to destroy, hide, or change the evidence. With the flight of former DA executives Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante and Cito Lorenzo and the destruction or the falsification of the DBM files, the only credible insider that we can get information from is former DBM Sec. Emilia Boncodin,”

“In fact we are going to visit her today to show our support for her testimony and encourage her to tell all she knows of the misdeeds of this regime which affected farmers terribly. The new DBM secretary may say that they lost no file because of the fire but the access to them is now strictly limited to them and who is stopping Malacanang to tamper with these files? So the regional offices should have all their files printed out now, so that they can see if anything was changed,” added the peasant leader.

Meanwhile Atty. Jobert Pahilga, executive trustee of SENTRA as well as the counsel-presentor of KMP secretary general and expert witness for the Citizen’s Congress, Danilo Ramos said, “the DBM fire was instigated by Malacanang’s political arsonists who together with Gloria, know that the DBM files on the fertilizer scam will lead the paper trail from the DBM all the way to Malacanang,”

“Malacanang seems to sink lower and lower everyday!” ended Pahilga. # # #
 

KMP - 29 October 2005