Department of Agriculture tightens rules on release of funds to LGUs, NGOs

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is imposing more stringent guidelines for the downloading of funds to its program partners like local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) to ensure the judicious disbursement of such outlays for the implementation DA projects in the countryside.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said the tighter guidelines form part of the reform measures the DA is implementing this year to help correct systemic lapses in the monitoring of DA projects at the local level.

The systemic flaws stem from the devolution of powers to LGUs which had stripped the DA of its operational control and administrative supervision over provincial, municipal, city agriculture officers and farm technicians.

The new guidelines, which were firmed up during the last Management Committee (ManCom) meeting held by the DA for 2008, include checking the capability of its program partners in carrying out the DA’s intervention measures at the local level.

For LGUs, Yap said top DA executives agreed to give priority in terms of fund releases to local governments willing and able to provide counterpart funding for its farm-friendly projects.

It was also agreed that as basic criteria, NGOs and POs should be in existence for at least three years before they would be considered as program partners of the DA, and should be in good standing as officially certified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“We should be aware which agencies or foundations are in bad standing,” Yap said, adding that the DA should also find out the names of the incorporators of these foundations that will be our program partners so we can put a red flag on those that have doubtful reputations, especially since there is no law against setting up multiple foundations.”

To tighten the monitoring of fund releases to program partners, Yap said that disbursements to program partners would be done in three tranches, with the first tranche equivalent to only 15 percent of the total budget allotted for the beneficiary-institutions.

Subsequent releases to beneficiaries would be made only after they have liquidated their previous allotments, Yap said.

NGOs, POs or foundations with problems in the implementation of past projects would be automatically disqualified as program partners of the DA.

As part of the DA’s systemic overhaul, Yap earlier announced that starting this year the DA would focus funding on hard or “big-ticket” projects covering irrigation maintenance, post-harvest facilities, farm-to-market roads (FMRs) and rural extension work, in lieu of “soft” projects like fertilizer support to farmers.