COA alerted NFA on fertilizer scam as early as 2003

MANILA, Philippines -  The Commission on Audit (COA) had uncovered anomalies in the procurement of fertilizer by the government as early as 2003, a year before the alleged P728-million fertilizer fund scam was discovered.

In February 2004, sate auditor Flerida Jimenez wrote former National Food Authority administrator Arthur Yap – who now represents Bohol in Congress – regarding the discrepancies she noted in the NFA’s joint project with the Department of Agriculture in May 2003.

The “alleged anomaly” covers P432 million worth of fertilizer that was supposed to be bought by NFA for the agriculture department, for purposes of distributing them to farmer-beneficiaries in time for the May-October 2003 cropping season.

The NFA-DA memorandum of agreement was signed by Yap and former Agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr.            

Jimenez noted “inconsistencies” in the signing date and the grant of authority on the part of the NFA because Lorenzo authorized the purchase of the fertilizer (powder) through a negotiated contract 12 days before the signing of the agreement.

Other signatories were NFA Deputy Administrator for Operations Gregorio Tan Jr. and DA Undersecretary for Field Operations Edmund Sana, who both served as witnesses. The COA also noticed another inconsistency on the part of NFA when the agency claimed to have adopted the negotiated procurement, but held “three simultaneous biddings” in the national capital region in Luzon, Cebu in Visayas and Davao City in Mindanao.                                                                      

“This is inconsistent with the claim that NFA adopted the negotiated procurement,” she said.

Jimenez also questions how “invitations were sent” to bidders in the regions and “how many suppliers were invited to participate.” “While the season for the negotiation was to facilitate immediate procurement of the fertilizers, the procurement contracts were awarded to Philpos only after June 2003 when the approval of the Office of the President was as early as March 2003,” she said.

“This means that the DA and NFA were not in a hurry to procure the fertilizer and that the normal competitive bidding could have been adopted,” Jimenez wrote to Yap.

Another problem was the “alleged delay” in the delivery of fertilizers to farmer-beneficiaries, apart from reports that prices awarded to Philpos “may still be considered high, considering the big volume of fertilizers purchased by NFA.”