Saturday, September 27, 2008
DA starts checking barangays on use of pork-funded seedlings
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 has started inspecting this week the different barangays that received hybrid seedlings bought from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district).
City Agriculturist Joelito Baclayon said DA personnel have begun visiting the barangays in response to Cuenco’s request for them to countercheck if the seedlings, which were part of a project in 2005, have matured into trees.
The request stemmed from a Commission on Audit (COA) audit observation memorandum (AOM) dated April 14, 2008 that noted several lapses in the implementation of the project.
Cuenco has asked the COA for a fraud audit, saying that while he does not ascribe malice to the Guadalupe barangay officials, led by its barangay captain and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Eugenio Faelnar, an audit will clarify everything.
“We smell a rat here. And before the rat eats everything, we want you to act soonest,” the congressman said in a follow-up letter to the COA chairman dated June 12.
In December 2005, the DA 7, implementing Cuenco’s goat dispersal, seedling distribution, farm implements purchase projects, entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City and handed over P14.793 million to the officials, led by Faelnar.
Through the ABC, Guadalupe used P6.493 million to pay for 40 rolls of garden hoses (P245,000) and 31,866 mango, rambutan, durian and lanzones seedlings (P6.248 million).
Guadalupe also used P664,655 for the construction of a goat house in Barangay Taptap.
And since it has yet to have the goat dispersal project bid out and the DA 7 already asked for the return of the remaining amount, Guadalupe turned over a P7.633-million check to the department last Sept. 17.
Aside from asking the COA to conduct an audit, Cuenco had likewise asked the City Agriculture Office and the DA 7 to check if the seedlings have grown.
In earlier interviews, Faelnar had said that in distributing the seedlings and in the preparations leading to the supposed bidding of the goats, like the conduct of seminars and construction of goat houses in each barangay, he had always consulted Baclayon.
“Kuyogan nako ang mga taga DA 7 mobisita sa inyong area kabahin atong seedlings. Kita ma’y naghatag seminars ug gitahasan ta pag-identify kinsa’y mga ngalan sa mga beneficiaries, naa ta’y mga records. Nikonsulta man si konsehal (Faelnar) nato unsa’y angay buhaton (We’ll visit your barangays to check the seedlings. We have records of the beneficiaries because we identified them and gave seminars to them),” he told the barangay captains who gathered in a press conference Faelnar called for last Tuesday.
Faelnar, according to a listing handed out during the said press conference, distributed 23,533 seedlings to 15 barangays, while Baclayon’s office were given 8,333 seedlings for distribution.
Also, explaining why the bidding for the goats was delayed, Baclayon said he noticed that the recipient barangays were not ready yet to receive the animals.
That was the reason, he said, his office conducted seminars on the proper care of the goats. The barangays were told to build their own goat houses.
“Dili ta mohatag og kanding kung wala’y balay. Dili sad ta mohatag kung dili pa ma-train ang recipients. Akong recommendations dili gyud nga hybrid, 80 percent lang, para mas adaptable (We can’t distribute the goats of there are no goat houses. We also need to train the recipients),” he said.
Baclayon said taking care of the goats is important because they are unlike local goats that could just be pastured anywhere.
He said the imported goats have to eat a special kind of grass and primarily good for cross-breeding purposes to improve the bloodline of local goats.
Questions on the distribution of the seedlings and failure of the barangay to distribute the goats after almost three years have further strained Cuenco and Faelnar’s relationship as political allies.
Both, however, had said they are open to a one-on-one meeting to resolve their differences. (RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 27, 2008 issue)
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