Thursday, February 16, 2006
Utility worker washes hands of foundation doings
By Jeanette P. Malinao
CEBU CITY -- One of the five listed incorporators of Kasosyo Foundation, a utility worker of the Pinamungajan Municipal Government tasked to collect the town's garbage, said he knew nothing about the foundation's activities.
Monico Baron, 59, said it was only the late Wilfredo Camomot who took care of running the programs of Kasosyo, which got P6 million for the fertilizer distribution program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In fact, Baron said, their foundation does not have an office and he signed the documents at the office of Jegans Liner, also owned by Yapha's family.
His involvement in Kasosyo was limited to signing those papers, he added.
The group's articles of incorporation listed their office address as Room 102 of the Visayas Community Medical Center, the clinic of Representative Antonio Yapha, a doctor.
Yapha earlier denied knowledge of the foundation, but DA 7 Director Eduardo Lecciones said it was Kasosyo that took care of the Kabir chicken dispersal project, which was supported by Yapha's discretionary funds and backed by a counterpart fund from DA.
Pricing
Baron, who also takes charge of the town ambulance in the absence of its driver, said he signed the incorporation papers only because Camomot told him it was for the people's welfare.
Until now, the regional agriculture department has failed to present to the public the documents showing where Kasosyo bought the fertilizer, for how much, and where these went.
The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier found that an island town, Poro, also bought liquid fertilizers using then Rep. Ace Durano's
discretionary funds, also coursed through the DA. The fertilizers, however, were overpriced by 1,192 percent.
Poro could have bought the fertilizer at P125.75 per bottle, instead of the P1,500 per bottle it paid to Perzebros Co.
The purchase was "to increase corn production and improve the economic condition of the farmers," but COA found most of these lying around, undistributed and unprotected, at the town hall's lobby.
Chicken
The Senate committee on agriculture and food is looking into the alleged misuse of P728 million in fertilizer funds that the office of former DA undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante released, shortly before the 2004 elections.
The committee, headed by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., fears the funds may have been spent for the election campaign of President Arroyo, following reports that the fertilizers were overpriced by 800 to 1,000 percent.
Mangoto, Pinamunga-jan Barangay Captain Romulo Enario, for his part, confirmed that a group of farmers from his barangay received fertilizers. The beneficiaries underwent training for the farmer-scientist program under Dr. Romulo Davide.
Enario admitted that he was also coordinator of the Kabir dispersal project, a livelihood venture that was launched in 2001 but was not sustained because recipients of the chickens could no longer afford to feed them.
Lecciones had said that his agency no longer looked at the personalities behind Kasosyo because of its "good track record."
All five incorporators, it turned out, were working for Yapha and the telephone number Kasosyo listed in its papers was that of Yapha's clinic.
'Conflict'
But Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia said the DA should have been wary of the conflict of interest.
The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act prohibits any public officer from being involved in transactions in which he, in his official functions, would have an occasion to intervene.
Yapha clearly intervened in identifying beneficiaries of the fertilizer project, said Garcia, as Lecciones admitted that he called up Yapha about it.
The issue of Kasosyo's fertilizer funds involves legality, morality and propriety, the Capitol consultant added.
Funds for fertilizers were also released for Cebu City barangays under Rep. Antonio Cuenco, but the DA still coursed this through Kasosyo Foundation. Congressman Cuenco has denied any involvement in the project. (With JECT of Superbalita)
(February 16, 2006 issue)
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