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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Fertilizer funds 'went to flowers'
By Danilo V. Adorador III
DID the P3 million share from the controversial P728 fertilizer fund released to the lone district of Cagayan de Oro Representative Constantino Jaraula end up in the hands of farmers tending ornamental plants?
From the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) last January 20, this was supposedly the case, as reported in the Philippine Daily Inquirer issue of February 6.
This coincided with Tuesday's suspension of City Agriculturist Godofredo Bajas, on account that he failed to inform Cagayan de Oro Mayor Vicente Emano that the city was a recipient of the alleged overpriced fertilizers.
The congressional office of Jaraula Tuesday, however, exonerated Bajas, saying the agriculture official can't be faulted if there were administrative lapses the led to the mayor being uninformed about the project.
"We apologize to Mayor Emano for this and we hope that Mr. Bajas would be spared from any administrative punishment because he is in no way part for whatever mistakes we have committed," said Jigz Jaraula, chief of staff for Jaraula. "We thought that by informing the City Agriculturist, then it was as if we had already informed the whole City Government."
Before incurring the five-day suspension, Bajas had already received a tongue-lashing from several councilors Monday after admitting that his office received around five deliveries of foliar fertilizers numbering around 23,834 bottles last year.
Private funds
According to his report, the fertilizers went to 26 barangays and four other agricultural groups.
Some councilors even spoke of "grand conspiracy" with Bajas's supposed silence on the deliveries of the fertilizers, after Councilor Annie Daba insisted that the fertilizers -- priced around P800 to P850, can be bought local price of P50 to P100.
Taking the cue from the Senate investigation of the fertilizer fund in which several personalities were indicted, councilors were suspicious of the seemingly clandestine entry of the fertilizers into the city's agriculture office.
In conducting the fertilizer probe and even deciding to extend it forward, councilors say they were only trying to ensure that nobody in the City Government had benefited in the anomalous fund.
Jaraula, in an interview, denied benefiting from the P3 million allocated to his district. The Department of Agriculture had intended the fund for farm facilities and other inputs.
"I am in no way involved in the determination as to the procurement of the fertilizers," he said.
During the City Council investigation Monday, Department of Agriculture regional director Joel Rodinas said that Jaraula's office had recommended a private organization to undertake the disposition of the fertilizer fund.
As to price-padding allegations, Jaraula said COA has not found any irregularity in the fertilizers' pricing, but said that his office will look into the matter.
Jaraula was silent on the PDI story which cited a COA audit report finding that fertilizer recipients in Barangays Tablon and Iponan had no farm for rice and corn but only a small lot where commercial ornamental plants were planted.
A total of 300 bottles of foliar fertilizer were released to said farmers.
Although the fertilizer fund was released on May of 2004, the report also said that farmers in other barangays were able to receive the fertilizers as late as November 2005.
(March 15, 2006 issue)
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