Yap return to DA hailed, assailed

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (ASAP) hailed yesterday the appointment of Arthur Yap as agriculture secretary to replace Domingo Panganiban but militant farmers said they smell a "scam in the offing."

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) linked Yap’s return to the Department of Agriculture with the elections next year. They called him an "election operator" who replaced former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-joc" Bolante, the alleged architect of the P728-million Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) fertilizer fund scam.

"The real reason behind Secretary Arthur Yap’s reinstatement as DA secretary has a lot to do with the coming elections," said Danilo Ramos, secretary general of KMP, which is among the complainants in the case filed with the Office of the Ombudsman on the fertilizer fund scam.

"With Yap back in DA, there is definitely another scam in the offing," he claimed, stressing that the public should be extra vigilant in the wake of the latest Cabinet reshuffle.

The public, he said, should specifically look out for the seed fund of the GMA program and the P3.5 billion worth of rice to be imported supposedly for school children.

A militant lawmaker, Akbayan partylist Rep. Etta Rosales, emphasized that the dismissal of the tax evasion charges against Yap and his family does not automatically mean he can go back to the agency, as there are "far graver issues that he failed to satisfactorily answer."

A case in point was the murder of freelance journalist Marlene Esperat, who filed criminal charges against the Cabinet member in connection with another fertilizer scam amounting to P432 million, when he was still NFA administrator.

Still another case, according to Rosales, involved a negotiated deal with Philphos for supposedly overpriced fertilizer at a time when there was no emergency that called for such a purchase and the absence of a clear mandate for the NFA to engage in the procurement and distribution of fertilizers.

A third case was the alleged importation of rice worth P5.8 billion from India in 2002. Yap was then head of the Philippine International Trading Corp. and got an approval from former NFA head Anthony Abad to import rice. The deal reportedly deviated from bidding specifications during the pre-bidding, costing the government about P340.6 million.

"With these stark instances of incompetence behind him, why is Yap being reassigned to the DA?" Rosales asked. "The struggling farmers depend on the DA for protection of their sources of livelihood.

The ASAP, on the other hand, welcomed Yap’s appointment but challenged him to put an end to smuggling of frozen meat products that has led to the estimated P2 billion in losses monthly of local hog raisers.

"We hope that Mr. Yap will respond to our challenge before our agricultural industry totally collapses," ASAP president Nicanor Briones said.

He explained that the losses are computed based on a nationwide consumption of about two million heads of hogs per month. Backyard raisers were the most affected as they absorb an average loss of P700 to P1,000 per head due to the drastic decline of farm-gate prices, from P80 to P85 per kilo (live weight) last March to only P68 to P70 now.

Briones disclosed that about 70 percent of the meat supply in Metro Manila and other parts of the country are from backyard raisers. And unless smuggling is curbed immediately, the backyard raisers would suffer more due to recurring losses amid high prices of feeds and other inputs.

According to Briones, smuggling of meat products has placed the country’s "bio-security" under threat, as many of the smuggled products are from China and countries where cases of bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease have been reported.

Even onion farmers, particularly those from Nueva Ecija, have also been complaining of massive importation of onions despite abundance of local harvest.

"The onion farmers have blamed the DA and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) for the massive issuance of import permits for onion importation," he said.

Only last August, police caught four refrigerated vans loaded with frozen meat and chicken worth P11.2 million. The 40-footer container vans were all sealed and unopened by Customs or quarantine officers when intercepted by elements of CIDG’s anti-smuggling task group along Vitas, Tondo, Manila on its way to a warehouse of a big-time meat processor in Pampanga.

Briones cited the report of the CIDG that the shipment’s consignee was Asia Golden Ark Marketing and its broker, SM Estrada Customs Brokerage, which were both allegedly managed by a certain Geralyn and Henry O.

Based on the records of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Henry O also owns the Philippine Onion and Garlic Import and Export (POGIE), which is involved in the importation of onions from China.

Meanwhile, a CIDG report indicated that the intercepted goods were issued permits by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and not the BPI, which is the proper permit issuing agency for such products.

Briones said smuggled or imported frozen meats are being sold at much cheaper prices in big groceries and malls.

He also said that meat processors are also contributing to their losses as they prefer to import from Korea, India, and China.

"Most of the shipments enter the country without undergoing strict quarantine procedures," he lamented. — Ding Cervantes, Katherine Adraneda, Delon Porcalla