House sets probe of DA fund irregularities

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives will investigate numerous irregularities in the use of tens of billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

However, this early, Antipolo City Rep. Angelito Gatlabayan has issued a clarification, saying he used his P4 million Priority Development Assistant Fund (PDAF) allocation in 2007 to help thousands of farmers in his district.

The committee on agriculture, chaired by Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra, will start the inquiry in two weeks.

The irregularities had been uncovered by the Commission on Audit (COA).

In a text message yesterday, Mitra said he would seek a copy of the comprehensive COA report on the use of DA funds in 2007 and confront Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap with it when the inquiry begins.

He said it is lamentable that there is such wastage of funds when the money should be going to food production and projects that would enhance agricultural productivity.

During yesterday’s resumption of hearing on the proposed P39.7-billion DA budget for 2009, Rep. Risa Hontiveros asked Yap about more than P400 million in his agency’s funds given to private foundations.

Yap disagreed with the COA report that the foundations have not accounted for the money they received.

“As of now, 63 percent of the funds have been liquidated,” he said.

According to the COA, none of the private organizations that received DA funds in 2007 has accounted for the money as of May this year.

As for the finding that auditors could not locate the recipient-foundations, Yap said these organizations just transferred their offices.

Hontiveros said if Yap’s claim is true, DA officials should have informed auditors of the new addresses of the foundations to which they funneled agriculture-related funds.

“They should have been diligent in monitoring the activities of these foundations,” she said.

She added that the biggest recipient is Antipolo Philanthropy Foundation, Inc. (APFI), which received P146.6 million in 2007 and P30 million in February this year.

A COA team did not find the foundation’s office in the Antipolo City address it listed in documents submitted to the DA. Instead, they found a school occupying the place.

“The DA-RFU (Regional Field Unit) IV did not monitor the fund transfers to APFI, resulting in the accumulation of unliquidated cash advances in the amount of P146,600,000. Despite non-liquidation of previous fund transfers, the DA-RFU IV released the amount of P30 million (to APFI) in February 2008,” they added.

The other private groups that received funds from Yap’s office were National Organization for Agricultural Enhancement and Productivity, Inc., which got P44 million; Commoners Foundation, Inc., P9.1 million; Las Marias Foundation, Inc., P34 million; Coprahan and Gulayan Foundation, Inc., P31 million; Gabay Masa Development Foundation, P5 million; Samahan ng Manininda ng Prutas at Gulay sa Gabi, Inc., P20 million; and Aaron Foundation, Inc. (no amount indicated).

The COA said these foundations, together with APFI, which were supposed to implement agriculture-related projects worth P289.8 million, “were of questionable legitimacy.”

“SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) confirmation negative,” auditors reported when they checked the registration papers of Commoners Foundation and Las Marias Foundation. They could not locate the other fund recipients.

Other private organizations that received funds from DA were Unlad Quezon Foundation, P10 million; Mula sa Puso Foundation (amount not indicated); Bantayog Kalinga Foundation, P5 million; Kamama Foundation, P30 million; Encima Lhea Care Foundation, P2.1 million, JR and JP Enterprises, P13.6 million; Kapuso at Kapamilya Foundation, P13 million; and Buhay Ko, Mahal Ko Foundation, P10 million.

Auditors questioned the use of the last two foundations, which they said were located in Metro Manila.

Questionable transfer of funds

“Since the beneficiaries are Bohol constituents, there is no acceptable reason for the transfer of funds from RFU VII (Central Visayas) to Nabcor (National Agribusiness Corp., a DA agency) and finally to NGOs located in Metro Manila,” they said.

Unlad Quezon Foundation was supposed to implement “Sagip Hanapbuhay,” a project of Rep. Danilo Suarez in Tiaong town. However, auditors reported that most of the alleged beneficiaries did not receive funds.

In the case of JR and JP Enterprises, Kamama Foundation, Encima Lhea Care Foundation and Samahan ng mga Manininda ng Prutas sa Gabi, RFU VII gave them P55.7 million to buy vegetable seeds, planting materials, organic fertilizer, and irrigation pumps.

Auditors discovered that their purchases were overpriced by P28.2 million.

The 2007 irregularities were a repeat of the anomalies COA uncovered in 2004 in the use of P728 million in fertilizer funds the DA released to more than 100 congressmen-allies of President Arroyo and more than 50 pro-administration governors and mayors.

Several of the foundations involved in last year’s alleged fund diversion were used four years ago by many politicians to skim tens of millions of pesos from the fertilizer funds that they received. 

Gatlabayan, on the other hand, said the money was used to buy palay seeds, fertilizer, farm equipment, portable threshers, and vegetable planting materials, which he distributed to farmers.

He admitted though that he coursed his funds through the APFI.

He said the release of the funds to the foundation was covered by a memorandum of agreement between him, foundation president Johnny Tan and the DA Region IV director.