Agri chief faces P1.07-B plunder complaint

MANILA, Philippines - Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, along with National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR) president Honesto Baniqued, is facing another plunder case before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly pocketing P1.07 billion in public money through questionable fund disbursements.  

Lawyer Argee Guevarra filed the latest criminal charge yesterday based on a 2012 Commission on Audit (COA) report citing a number of alleged irregularities that altogether point to a raid of government coffers. 

In an 18-page criminal and administrative charge, Guevarra accused Alcala and Baniqued of committing plunder, graft, malversation of public funds and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. 

Alcala said yesterday he is prepared to respond to the new plunder case in the proper forum. 

“I have not yet received an official notice that a plunder case has been filed against me. A case is tackled in the proper court,” Alcala said in Filipino. 

The allegations stem from the COA report’s mention of P807.5 million in disbursements lacking disbursement vouchers and journal entry vouchers; disbursements worth P31.4 million that were without signatures of the approving authority; and P53.4 million in public funds supposedly invested in a joint venture that has gone missing and is not reflected in the joint venture partners’ books.  

Gueverra’s plunder complaint also exposed how P156.1 million was supposedly disbursed but could not be found in the documentation for NABCOR’s project funds; how a consultant was “hired” unnecessarily for P10.3 million to “negotiate” with another government entity, and how the respondents supposedly rewarded themselves with hefty salaries, allowances and other benefits.  

“Given the unassailable COA Report as of Dec. 31, 2012 and the unexplained enormous wealth of the respondent Alcala, there is substantial evidence to establish that hundreds of millions if not billions of government funds were systematically stolen by way of kickbacks by the respondents and their minions, followers, allies, relatives, dummies and business associates,” the plunder charge reads. 

Guevarra also accused the Cabinet official of using his position to finance and support the gubernatorial candidacy of his son in the 2013 elections wherein “hundreds of millions of government funds were funneled and diverted in the projects he claimed to have implemented in Quezon to back up the losing bid of his son.” 

The complaint included the COA 2012 report as evidence against Alcala and Baniqued who allegedly “amassed, accumulated or acquired ill-gotten wealth directly, or through their subordinates at the Department of Agriculture/NABCOR by taking material possession of unaccounted NABCOR funds.”  

Guevarra asked the Office of the Ombudsman to also look into the pattern of disbursing millions of pesos without vouchers, authorization or documentation; the pattern of millions of public funds missing from the records and documentation; the pattern of unnecessary, extravagant and irregular expenditures; the pattern of violating government regulations regarding the disbursement of funds, and the pattern of violating government regulations regarding the reporting of fund disbursements in the DA and NABCOR. 

Citing jurisprudence, Guevarra argued that by failing to account for public funds despite repeated demands by COA, Alcala and Baniqued are presumed in law to have converted the same to their personal use. – With Czeriza Valencia