Friday, February 03, 2006
Agriculture chief: Didn't know P3M's use
CEBU CITY -- The release of P6 million in taxpayers' funds to a foundation for a Department of Agriculture (DA) program has exposed the need for better safeguards in how public money is spent.
DA 7 Director Eduardo Lecciones said Thursday he could have stopped the release of the P3 million for Cebu City's south district in 2004, had he known that it was intended for the hybrid rice commercialization program.
Like the P3 million that went to Cebu Province's third congressional district, the funds allocated for the south district were spent for the purchase of liquid fertilizer.
Kasosyo Foundation Inc. received the P6 million from the DA regional office.
The money formed part of the P728 million in fertilizer funds the Senate committee on food and agriculture is investigating, following allegations that it was used for the 2004 election campaign of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The Cebu Provincial Government was also offered P5 million for a fertilizer program, but Governor Gwendolyn Garcia rejected it after "a parade of shady characters" went to her office.
"Tagalog-speaking women came to my office and told me directly that there's this money and all I have to do is name the LGUs and they will deal directly with the local officials. I asked them, 'Who are you and what are you?'" the governor told Sun.Star Cebu.
NGO channels
Representation Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south), in a radio dyLA interview, denied knowing about the funds, saying he only talked with Lecciones about it after the DA official appeared during the Senate hearing on the department's annual budget last Tuesday.
But Lecciones, in a press conference Thursday, said he informed Cuenco and Representatives Antonio Yapha (Cebu, 3rd district) and Simeon Kintanar (Cebu, 2nd district) about the project.
He said Cuenco and Yapha told him to course the funds through a non-government organization (NGO), while Kintanar advised him to give the P3 million for his district to the Argao Municipality.
DA 7 accredited about seven NGOS in Central Visayas, including Kasosyo Foundation, for the program.
Lecciones said they chose Kasosyo because it was based in Minglanilla, Cebu and had a good record in DA's Kabir chicken dispersal program in Cebu's third district and other parts of the region.
Kasosyo Foundation was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May 2002 and was accredited by DA 7 on July 16 of that same year.
Selection
It was headed by radioman Wilfredo "Baby" Camomot, who died on Aug. 25, 2004, a few months after the release of the funds.
Although Camomot had been described as Yapha's speechwriter, the congressman earlier said he had nothing to do with the setting up of the foundation or in selecting the incorporators.
The Kasosyo incorporators were found to be some of Yapha's people, including his secretary.
"Personalities in the foundation will not matter because the incorporators speak for their own record. What is important to us is that the foundation is not fly-by-night," Lecciones said.
The DA official, however, could not answer how and why the three congressional districts were chosen as beneficiaries of the fertilizer program.
Lecciones said only former DA undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante can answer such questions.
Proof
Bolante, though, has been a no-show at the Senate inquiry and is said to be in the United States.
Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., who heads the committee on food and agriculture, has put up a bounty for her arrest.
In Cebu, DA 7 officials have yet to present proof that P9 million in fertilizer funds for the three congressional districts in Cebu have reached the intended farmer-beneficiaries.
Lecciones said the Kasosyo Foundation, implemented the "farm inputs and farm implements program" and has liquidated the P6 million, but he did not present a single document on this during the press conference.
Of the P3 million allocated for Argao, P1.8 million was initially released upon the instruction of Congressman Kintanar.
Lecciones said the remaining P1.2 million is still with Land Bank and cannot be released to the local government due to lack of liquidation.
Who got it?
Argao officials had submitted a liquidation report but DA 7 did not accept it because it was not endorsed by the Commission on Audit, he explained.
DA 7 signed a memorandum of agreement with the Argao Municipal Government and Kasosyo Foundation on the release of the funds.
The fertilizer supplied to Cuenco and Yapha's districts was in liquid form, while Argao got solid fertilizer from Atlas Fertilizer Corp.
Lecciones said he did not know why Kasosyo Foundation chose the liquid fertilizer when most farmers do not know how to use it.
He also failed to reveal where Kasosyo procured the fertilizer from, but said the foundation has already liquidated the funds for the two districts.
According to DA 7 records, the beneficiaries were 840 farmers in 42 barangays of Argao, 752 farmers in Asturias and Aloguinsan and 875 farmers in Barangays Toong, Pamutan, Sudlon 1, Sudlon 2 and Tabunan in Cebu City.
DA 7 officials said they have no idea how much the fertilizer was worth and how much every beneficiary received. (EOB/With JPM of Sun.Star Cebu)
(February 3, 2006 issue)
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