The Sandiganbayan has allowed the plea bargaining, pleading guilty to a lesser offense for a lesser penalty, by a private individual on his two counts of graft charges in the purchases of P4.8 million worth of liquid fertilizer by the local government of Butuan City in 2004. Allowed to plea bargain was Lucio R. Lapidez, representative of Feshan Philippines, Inc., the supplier of the liquid fertilizer. With the grant of the motion to plea bargain, the anti-graft court set Lapidez’s arraignment at 8:30 a.m. on May 5. He will plead guilty to charges of frauds against the public treasury under Article 213 of the Revised Penal Code, a lesser offense than graft under Sections 3(e) and (g) of Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Also allowed by the Sandiganbayan was Lapidez’s motion to pay a fine of P10,000 for each count and that the civil liability of P4.3 million “be dispensed with” or waived in his favor. Lapidez’s co-accused was former Butuan City mayor Leonides Theresa B. Plaza who had been convicted in 2019 and had been ordered to pay  the city government P4.5 million and civil indemnity of P4.3 million. "It is important to emphasize that while a defendant (Lapidez) has no constitutional right to plea bargain, the Court must defer to prosecutorial decisions with regard to whom to prosecute in relation to the giving of consent to plea bargaining proposals. This pronouncement holds even more true in instance where there was no showing that the plea bargaining agreement had been attended with ill-motive or bad faith, as in this case," the court said in its resolution. "In addition, this Court cannot compel the prosecution to continue prosecuting the case by virtue of its categorical consent to accused Lapidez' proposal to plea bargain to a lesser offense," it said. The court also took note of Plaza’s conviction and payment of fine and civil indemnity in the grant of Lapidez’s motions. The court’s resolution was written by Associate Justice Ronald B. Moreno with the concurrence of Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Bernelito R. Fernandez.