IN THE news lately is another irregularity, nay, scam, if you may, involving the Department of Agriculture.
This time, it is the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or ACEF. Now it has been exposed that the very huge amounts of the fund were wasted and undeserving beneficiaries got a major chunk of it.
Previously, we have been scandalized by the huge fertilizer scam perpetuated by Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante et al. Up until now, there has been no closure on the issue.
Such waste of money which should have been put to good use if it not for the kleptomaniacs in government.
All these irregularities seem to undermine the efforts of the national government to steer its operations out of the mine field.
The schemers gravitate to where the funds are and they employ every trick in the book to siphon them off. Allegedly, some P5 billion still is available for grabs, this time by the legitimate farmers hopefully.
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At Mabalacat City, its Agriculture Office will award checks from the
Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) on crop damaged compensation caused by typhoons "Santi" and "Maring" on February
13, 2014, with Mayor Marino P. Morales, SB Committee on Agriculture chair Jeng Yumul and CAFC chair Bong Manalo in attendance.
Steering clear of controversy, Mabalacat's Agriculture Office is headed by Lou Balatibat and assisted by Cirila Cequina, Elizabeth Reyes,
Maricar Guina, Fortunato de Leon, Roy Concepcion, Maricel Corpuz Remedis Magtubo, Joseph John Manarang, Alex Layson, Mario Canlas Dante Rivera and Abel Archievald Canlas.