Cleaning up a mess HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 07/12/2010

Cleaning up a mess

HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 07/12/2010 From a sacred cow to a sacred cow, that is how Cito Lorenzo is fast becoming as talks once again center on past anomalous deals Gloria Arroyo’s administration had entered into, particularly the so-called Fertilizer Scam (the flavor of the week in the very young Aquino administration), in which Lorenzo and his alleged partner-in-crime Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante were the major players. Palace hands are eagerly trying to extract information from Lorenzo in exchange for immunity by making him a state witness, a hero of sorts now after his flight from the previous investigations on the same matter, and he is expected to turn his back now on his former master, who was said to have benefitted from the anomaly as overpriced fertilizer money was used to buy off local officials in exchange for Gloria’s victory over famous actor Fernando Poe Jr., now deceased, in 2004. Lorenzo, GMA’s Agriculture secretary, cannot claim to have clean hands in the affair, and former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. could not be accused of simply insinuating this as he took part in the first Senate investigation of the mess, which at least revealed flaws in the structure on how authority over the fertilizer money flowed from top to bottom. Magsaysay suspects the Aquino administration is finding a way to give Lorenzo, whose brother was a big contributor to President Noynoy Aquino’s campaign kitty, the “kid glove treatment,” even as he claimed Lorenzo and Bolante are equally guilty as partners in the affair. Magsaysay, who probed the fertilizer fund mess in 2005, said government should hold Lorenzo and Bolante accountable for the misappropriation of P728-million, which not a few believe was used to prop up Gloria’s chances against Poe.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100712com7.html

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