Capitol won’t reimburse buyers’ sheep purchase

THE Provincial Government will not reimburse the two businessmen for the purchase of 41 heads of imported sheep from Australia, citing they made the acquisition about a year ago and it was covered by a legal and binding contract.

Lawyer Jose Maria Valencia, chief of staff and spokesperson of Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., said businessmen Rafael “Nene” Abello and Aurelio “Lito” Lacson had signed the purchase contract and absolute sale out of their own free will without coercion.

He said if they want to rescind the contract, they have to go to court and not simply write the Capitol just like what they did.

"The contract was executed between the Provincial Government and these businessmen. This is a valid agreement, executed and signed on March 2012. It was already a year ago and now that the election is approaching, they will just write a letter to us to demand for a reimbursement? They have been into the livestock industry for years and I'm sure they have compared the prices before signing the purchase agreement with us," Valencia said.

He pointed out that politics could be the reason for the moves of the two businessmen.

Valencia also revealed that the letter of Abello and Lacson surprised them because the Provincial Government had been acquiring goats and swine from RGA Farms owned by Abello since 2010.

“What if we will also return those animals we purchased from the farm of Abello and demand for reimbursement? Will it be okay for them?” Marañon said when asked for comment about the letters of the two businessmen.

Abello and Lacson had sent two letters, dated February 25 and 27, respectively, asking the provincial veterinarian to cancel the purchase agreement with the Provincial Government and reimburse them for the sheep’s purchase price, which they said was overpriced.

Valencia also bared that he noticed the same pattern and content in the letters of Abello and Lacson that made them suspect that there is only one author of the two letters.

Aurelio Lacson, in his letter, conveyed his disappointment for having purchased said livestock proceeding from an overpriced transaction abroad.

“After making a simple comparison of prices based on the information from Australian sheep breeders I received, I was surprised to know that one breeder ewe in Australia of about the same age and weight I bought from you would only cost AUD$65 or a little less than P3,000 and a ram would only cost around AUD$100 or P4,591 per head,” Lacson’s letter stated.

“This shows that, when the sheep arrives in Bredco Port, Bacolod City, its price multiplied to four times which is entirely extraordinary and shocking, as it is impossible for the incidental expenses covering freight, insurances, and other fees to cost at least three times higher than the farmgate price of each sheep when bought from source,” he said.

In his letter, Rafael Abello expressed his disappointment in engaging in said livestock contract because he paid in cash for the 21 heads of sheep at a total cost of P357,600 on a quotation that was based on an overpriced purchase.

He also stated his regret that other private individuals were given breeder ewes and rams with no cash equivalent for them to raise or breed the livestock as part of the capitol’s dispersal program.

Valencia said the sheep were not disbursed free to the beneficiaries.

“There are only certain terms and conditions approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for the purchase of some cooperatives and Local Government Units,” he said.