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Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Oro fertilizers jacked up by P700
By Danilo V. Adorador III
LIQUID fertilizers numbering around several thousand bottles bought using the controversial fertilizer fund released for the lone district of Cagayan de Oro Representative Constantino Jaraula was overpriced by as much as P700 per bottle.
This was one of the abnormalities councilors found out in Monday's inquiry on the P3 million worth of foliar fertilizers delivered to the City Agriculturist's Office on several batches in 2005.
Councilor Annie Daba, who heads the committee on agriculture, said the two brands of fertilizers costing P800 per bottle -- as indicated in their respective delivery receipts, can be bought at local price of only P50 to P100.
The inquiry was prompted by a news item in a national daily saying that of the P90 million allocated for Region 10, the bulk went to Cagayan de Oro.
This was, however, clarified by Department of Agriculture regional director Joel Rodinas who said that out of the P728 million fertilizer fund, only P59 million was reserved for Northern Mindanao.
Of the amount, he said only P3 million went to Cagayan de Oro through the office of Jaraula.
Under the rules, Rodinas said the DA can implement the project or even the local government unit but Jaraula's office requested that a non-government organization handle the P3 million fund -- a case which is also allowed by law, he said.
The Philippine Social Development Foundation, a Manila-based NGO, undertook the purchase and the delivery of the allegedly overpriced fertilizers, he said.
The purchase of liquid fertilizers instead of solid or granule variety was also suspect, Daba said, explaining that most farmers had no spraying devices.
And since liquid fertilizers can't be used during wet seasons, Councilor Reynaldo Advicula argued that the fertilizers had become useless.
This was supported by Bajas who said that the bulk of the delivered fertilizers have not been distributed to the farmers who are still waiting for the dry season.
One village chieftain who was also recipient of the fertilizers, Councilor Jose Benjamin Benaldo said, was at a loss how to use the fertilizers.
The City Council decided to extend the investigation in the succeeding weeks to tackle questions on other fertilizer deliveries outside the P3 million fund, which some councilors said were also riddled with anomalies.
(March 14, 2006 issue)
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