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WHILE
the crisis spawned by the $329-million national
broadband network (NBN) scandal remains a threat to the
survival of the Arroyo administration, another can of
worms was opened that allegedly robbed marginalized
farmers once more of at least P1.1 billion of public
funds.
Citing a
2005 Commission on Audit (COA) report, lawyer Harry
Roque of the University of the Philippines ’ (UP)
College of Law described the anomaly as the “swine scam”
that practically dwarfs the P721-million “fertilizer
scam” of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn
“Jocjoc” Bolante. Funds from the latter were suspected
to have been used to fund administration candidates in
2004.
“This
present administration is no wonder a certified scam.
After the ‘fertilizer scam,’ they did it again through
this ‘swine scam,’” Roque said.
In the
COA report, the Department of Agriculture (DA)
implemented the program in 2004, when the current
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap was then administrator
of the National Food Authority and a board member—along
with former DA secretary Cito Lorenzo—of the Quedan and
Rural Credit Guarantee Corp.
The
QuedanCorp., a government-owned money-lending agency for
marginalized farmers, acted as the program distributor
or implementer.
Yap
denied any involvement in the scam.
“If I
was part of the coverup and the questionable
transaction, why will I allow it to be investigated?” he
said.
Yap said
that in fact he immediately ordered an investigation on
the anomaly right after he was appointed agriculture
secretary.
“What is
clear in the COA report is that a year after the
implementation of the program the COA initially
discovered some P700 million worth of ‘ghost
deliveries.’ After another year of extensive auditing,
the amount of deliveries ballooned to P1.1 billion,” the
lawyer said.
He said
the missing amount was part of the P1.66-billion fund
the government allotted for hog distribution to
marginalized farmers.
Under
the “Swine Program,” the government allotted at least
P2.25 billion to provide livelihood project to
marginalized farmers in selected provinces, less than
half of a P5-billion fund intended for the program.
“The
farmers who allegedly received P1.66 billion worth of
swine never did so. They signed and gave their
signatures to officials of QuedanCorp in exchange for
P200 toP300,” said Roque, citing some details of the COA
report.
Roque
said that in the COA report it is normally a procedure
for the audit institution to recommend what action the
Office of the Ombudsman should take to penalize those
involved in the scam.
“In 2005
the COA recommended that action be taken against those
found remiss in the discharge of their duties [regarding
the swine scam]. Until today we did not hear about this
controversy,” Roque said.
He said
the Office of the Ombudsman is apparently sitting on
this agriculture-fund scam. “Certainly the COA reports
are posted on the Internet [and] furnished to the Office
of the Ombudsman. I do not understand why years later
she [Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez] had not done
anything against anyone involved considering the
staggering amount of monies involved,” Roque said.
Also in
the COA report, the hog distribution did not go through
public bidding because three hog suppliers—Briks Agri-Livestock,
Silverstock Resources Corp. and Metro Livestock—supplied
P583 million, P480 million and P383 million worth of
hogs, respectively.
Roque
said the three suppliers had lower paid-up capitals—from
P62,500 to P760,000 only—besides the fact that the three
companies could have possibly been owned by the same
people.
“What is
also shocking to know is that these companies had no
track record and were ‘incorporated’ only in 2003,
several months before the 2004 election. The COA also
discovered that these so-called hog suppliers were not
accredited by the Bureau of Animal Industry,” said Roque,
citing further the COA report.
He said
half of the P5-billion “Swine Program” fund, including
the remaining P2.75 million left from the P2.25 billion,
was deposited in the Land Bank of the Philippines .
“Half of
the [P5 billion] was deposited with the LandBank. The
thinking was that the interest of this placement will in
turn pay for the cost of borrowing the P5 billion,” he
said. |
