IN a series of events that unfolded in the past few weeks, three of the agriculture-related agencies under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS) have been put on the spotlight amid a flurry of corruption allegations and accusations of defiance of authority.
These three agencies and their heads who seem to have been caught in a swirl are Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Administrator Avelino Andal, former National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Administrator Peter Tiu Laviña, and National Food Authority Administrator Jose Aquino.
The PCA case
The latest to hog newspaper headlines and broadcast airwaves was the PCA.
On March 20 the OCS said Andal has been placed on preventive suspension to pave the way for an investigation allegedly committed by some employees closely identified with him.
“Preventive suspension is not a penalty. It’s a preventive measure and a preparatory act to give way to a fair investigation,” OCS Undersecretary Halmen A. Valdez said in a text message to reporters.
Valdez said the PCA Board, where Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. sits as the chairman, received numerous sworn statements and receipts related to alleged illegal corruption of P1.50 per board foot of lumber in Basilan by Andal’s “trusted employees”.
“P1.50 per board feet sounds small but with 400,000 trees to be cut [as debris management process for post-cocolisap treatment] it will reach around P90 million in Basilan alone,” Valdez said.
“We also received statements stating that he [Andal] is the mastermind of such scheme. Other areas include Mindoro, Marinduque and Quezon,” Valdez added.
Valdez said Special Assistant to the President Christopher Go sent a letter to Andal asking the latter to explain the corruption allegations among his employees. “What he [Andal] did was he suspended his people who were involved [the accomplices and accessories],” Valdez said.
Andal slammed the resolution of the PCA board in ordering his preventive suspension calling it a “kangaroo” resolution, adding he was not even informed that there was a PCA board meeting on March 15, when the resolution ordering his preventive suspension was concluded.
“It’s clear in the rules that when there’s going to be a board meeting you need to have at least a five-day notice before the meeting. But they had a meeting on their own and, in fact, they only went to the board members one by one,” Andal said in a news briefing on March 20.
He denied the OCS statement that the sworn statements had pieces of evidence leading to his involvement in the alleged corruption practices done by his employees.
“To be the mastermind you must show proof, even the money that was received, but in the documents there were no statement referring to me as the mastermind,” Andal added. He said there should have been a due process before the PCA board ordered his preventive suspension from office. Andal also took a swipe on Valdez, saying that the undersecretary has a grand plan of ousting him from office similar to what happened to the two other agencies under the OCS, the NIA and NFA.
“It’s obvious that there is politics happening here. There’s a grand plan by one undersecretary [Valdez] to get me out. She was the one who ordered some people to issue a complaint letter against me,” Andal said.
The PCA board also issued a separate resolution assigning PCA Deputy Administrator Glenn Santos as the officer in charge of PCA within the period of Andal’s preventive suspension. Andal said he will defy the PCA board’s resolution to suspect him from overseeing the affairs of the agency.
“I do not recognize the effectivity of the board resolution ordering my suspension because it is a bogus order and I will continue to discharge of my duty,” Andal said.
The NIA case
The case of the PCA was not the first agency under the OCS to be under the spotlight over alleged corruption issues.
Earlier this month some reports came out indicating that President Duterte have fired Laviña for supposedly receiving a kickback of “40 percent”.
However, the OCS said Laviña was not sacked by the President and that he tendered his resignation a few days ago to spare him from intrigues.
NIA Spokesman Pilipina Bermudez told the BusinessMirror that Laviña filed his “irrevocable” resignation last week, and that it took effect on February 28.
Bermudez disclosed that Laviña approved three NIA projects totaling P1.79 billion during abbreviated his term.
“Only three projects were awarded during his tenure. The Small Reservoir Irrigation Project in Bohol [P367 million], South Main Canal Balog Balog Irrigation Project in Tarlac [P527 million] and the construction of the Balog Balog Diversion Tunnel costing P897 million, also in Tarlac,” she said.
The OCS said it was “surprised” by allegations of corruption leveled against Laviña, considering that he had just recently issued memorandum circulars requiring strict adherence to the revised implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
“He [Laviña] was alleged to have been favoring contractors and receiving money from them, even if we have been told that, on record, no bidding for big-ticket projects was held during his stay as administrator,” the agency said.
Following the corruption allegation thrown at Laviña, the OCS vowed to roll out more measures to ensure the transparency of the bidding process for the projects of the agency.
“The OCS already instructed the NIA management to implement schemes to further ensure wider public access and transparency in the conduct of biddings, especially for big-ticket projects in the Central Office. This includes online live-video streaming of all public biddings in NIA,” the agency said in a news statement.
“In addition, the NIA will use a bigger venue during the conduct of bidding to accommodate more observers, including the media. The public will be updated on the bidding process by posting, via the NIA web site, matters which may be lawfully disclosed,” it added.
The NIA is an attached agency of the Office of the President. Evasco sits as the NIA board’s acting chairman.
For his part, Laviña said he opted to resign from office to spare Duterte from the embarassment caused by the corruption allegations thrown at him.
“To spare the President from these embarrassing stories, particularly in these times of intensified attacks on him, I have quietly left the government. I have neither personal vested interest in it nor ill intent toward NIA and the whole government, which we are trying to reform,” he said in his Facebook post.
“I have proven in the past that one need not be in the government to do public service or work for the common good. I will likely continue to do so in media, civil society and the business sector, where I have been involved before,” he added.
The NFA case
Just few days after the corruption allegation issues in NIA blew its cover, a rift between the NFA Council (NFAC) and the NFA administration broke out.
The misunderstanding between the NFAC and NFA administration started when the OCS, which chairs the NFAC, pronounced that the deadline for the rice importation under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was extended by a month.
However, the NFA administration insisted that there were no MAV deadline extensions, resulting in the exchange of tirades between the administration and the council.
On March 1 two separate notices—both signed by Aquino—were published on the NFA web site concerning the arrival of rice shipments under the 2016 MAV rice importation program.
The first notice, which Aquino signed on February 20, stated that the arrival period of rice importation under the 2016 MAV rice importation program will only be until February 28, as provided in the 2016 General MAV Guidelines.
Meanwhile, the second notice stated that the arrival period of rice shipments under the 2016 MAV that were sourced from Pakistan and India is extended until March 31. Aquino signed the said notice on February 10.
On March 2 the OCS said the NFAC said it has already issued a directive to Aquino to immediately and strictly implement its decision pursuant to NFA Resolution 851-2017-B, which orders the extension of MAV deadline.
However, on March 3 the NFA released a statement declaring and insisting that there’s no extension for the arrival of imported rice under MAV as there’s no need for such. The NFA administration said their decision not to extend the MAV deadline was primarily intended to protect the local farmers, since March is the start of harvest for the summer crop and the local farmers’ produce should be given priority over private importation.
“We have no intention at all to defy the council. Our decision not to extend the MAV came in even before the council issued a resolution extending it. We had communicated this concern with the Office of the Cabinet Secretary as early as February 24, 2017, and we are awaiting their reply,” Aquino said.
Because of Aquino’s refusal to implement the NFAC’s order, Evasco said Aquino is facing “serious disciplinary sanctions” that could lead to his removal as chief of the food agency.
“It seems to us that he does not have even the slightest understanding of his office and even undermining the NFAC’s authority that were causing serious prejudice to the country’s food security. We are afraid he is not fit for the job. He must be dealt with accordingly,” Evasco said.
Furthermore, Evasco said he will create a special committee that will investigate the government’s rice-importation transactions after the NFA officials refused to allow the extension of the deadline for the arrival of rice imported via MAV.
The NFSC recommends to the NFAC whenever there is a need to purchase imported rice. The council has the final say on the volume and the timing of the importation.
Despite the lack of recommendation from the NFAC to import rice, Evasco said the NFA informed Hanoi that Manila would purchase rice from Vietnam this month for the food agency’s buffer stock.
“We have received a copy of NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino’s letter to Vietnam Embassy, informing the latter that the Philippine government will open a state-to-state importation this month for its buffer stock. That letter was sent to Vietnam Embassy behind the council’s back,” he said.
Evasco was referring to a March 3 letter addressed to Truong Triue Duong, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Embassy of Vietnam, wherein Aquino informed Hanoi that Manila did not extend the rice arrivals under the 2016 MAV importation program.
“The main reason is for the immediate conduct of government-to-government importation of rice, which is scheduled this March,” Aquino said in the letter, a copy of which was sent to reporters on March 6.
Evasco said the NFAC has earlier thumbed down Aquino’s importation proposal of 1 million metric tons to beef up NFA’s stock inventory in order to save the agency from incurring more debt.
For his part, Aquino said the subject of the letter sent to the Vietnamese Embassy was for the procurement of the remaining 250,000 metric tons (MT) of the approved standby authority in 2015.
“That’s what we were saying, that our current supply is on the critical level but the importation is still subject of the implementation of the NFAC. That was the plan; we were pushing the council for the approval of the 250,000 MT so we can implement that as early as March,” Aquino added.
Aquino said the agency would need to import 800,000 MT of rice by June to beef up its buffer stock before the onset of the lean months.
Aquino warned that the food agency’s buffer stock would fall short of the 30-day requirement for the lean months, which will start in July. “The buffer stock of the NFA by the end of June would be short of three days. That’s why we are pushing for the [immediate] importation of the 250,000 MT,” Aquino told reporters in a news briefing.
He said the 250,000 MT is the remaining half of the 500,000 MT standby authority for buffer stocking approved by the NFAC in 2015.
The council allowed the purchase of rice imports to fill the gap in local output caused by El Niño.
“The NFA wants to import the remaining 250,000 MT to boost our supply. Because, if God forbid, we will be hit by typhoons and other natural calamities, we might not have sufficient stock to distribute to those who will be affected,” Aquino said.
The NFA is required to maintain a 15-day buffer stock equivalent to around 400,000 MT at any given time. During the lean months, the NFA is required to have a 30-day buffer stock equivalent to 800,000 MT. These volumes are based on the current national daily rice-consumption requirement pegged at 654,400 50-kilogram bags, or 32,720 MT.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes