A former lawmaker has asked the Sandiganbayan to suspend the issuance of a warrant for his arrest as he intends to challenge the graft and malversation charges filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman.

In a seven-page motion, former rep. Abdullah Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte province asked the antigraft court’s Fifth Division to postpone the issuance of an arrest warrant in connection with his alleged involvement in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

Dimaporo said that the filing of graft and malversation charges against him was “clearly and unarguably premature” since the Ombudsman filed them without affording him opportunity to challenge the findings.

He insisted that a motion for reconsideration filed before the Ombudsman is part of a full preliminary investigation, which is essential to the filing of a charge sheet and a “component of due process guaranteed by the Constitution.”

Dimaporo also requested that the court proceedings be temporarily suspended until the Ombudsman resolves his motion for reconsideration.

No warrant of arrest has been issued against Dimaporo as of Friday, The Manila Times was informed.

The Dimaporos have dismissed as plain political harassment reports on the issuance of a warrant against the former legislator, according to Lanao del Norte provincial information officer and political officer Lyndon Calica.

“What is true is that the information sheet on the said complaint might have been misconstrued by some quarters in the province as a warrant of arrest,” Calica said.

Dimaporo and five others were charged for allegedly diverting P5 million from the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Input and Farm Implement Program.

Investigators said that the multimillion cash was released to the Dimaporo-owned Lanao Foundation Inc. despite the institution’s inability to operate the program.

Inspection and acceptance reports, as well as physical and financial status reports, were found tampered with to appear that a total of 10,000 bags of Saka Organic Fertilizer were delivered to Dimaporo’s office and subsequently distributed to farmers.

The defendants allegedly did not deliver and distribute the fertilizers to the farmers.

In 2004, former president and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pampanga province was accused of authorizing the release of P728 million supposedly to purchase fertilizers to be distributed to farmers. Former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante allegedly diverted the P728 million to Arroyo’s campaign fund. Bolante sought asylum in the United States but his petition was denied. He later insisted that there was no scam.