Yap orders audit of P2-billion loan secured by NIA

MANILA, Philippines - Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has ordered an internal audit of the P2-billion loan secured by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) from the National Development Corp. (NDC).

Yap has assigned Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup to head the internal audit team to assess and validate the post-harvest projects following the Lenten break.

The P2-billion loan is supposed to jumpstart the restoration and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities last year.

The audit is in line with fresh DA efforts to ensure a more effective monitoring of its intervention programs and the more judicious disbursement of its funds.

Yap ordered the DA’s Field Operations Service (FOS) and the Regional Agricultural Engineering Groups of the DA’s Regional Field Units (RFUs) to carry out the internal audit of the P2-billion loan of the NIA for the rehabilitation and restoration of irrigation systems servicing  of 53,000 hectares of land in 2008.

According to Yap, “the audit should include the financial accomplishments of the projects implemented by NIA using this P2-billion loan from the NDC.”

Yap added that “the audit team will also check if these projects are already ongoing and if they are being implemented on schedule.”

The NIA is targeting the restoration of irrigation systems covering 33,000 hectares of land and rehabilitating another 20,000 hectares of existing irrigated areas in 2008.

The Arroyo administration is expeding the restoration and rehabilitation of irrigation systems nationwide to boost palay harvests and help the country attain 100 percent self sufficiency in rice by 2013.

The repair of irrigation systems, Yap said, would add one or two more cropping seasons per year in underutilized farm lands.

The check on the P2-billion NIA complements an earlier order by Yap on an internal audit of all post-harvest facilities put up by the various offices and attached-agencies of the DA.

The post-harvest facilities comprise flatbed dryers, tramlines, cold chain facilities, fish ports, shredders, slaughter houses, and bagsak zan or drop-off centers.

They are all meant to pare post-production losses that cut into the profits of farmers plus other stakeholders and allow for more efficient and cheaper delivery of goods from farms to markets.

The internal audit, Yap said, is “in keeping with the reform measures that we have put in place for a better monitoring of our intervention programs meant to boost farm production and a more judicious downloading of public funds to farmer-beneficiaries via our program partners like local government units (LGUs), nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs).”