Agri, train officials bare-faced liars

Duplicity is a habit of high agriculture officials. Under probe by Presidential Assistant Kiko Pangilinan for P108-billion overprice in cargo handling of rice imports, their first instinct is to lie.

Directly at question for the scam is National Food Authority ex-administrator Orlan Calayag. Records show that, in importing 800,000 tons of rice from state-owned Vietnam National Food Corp., he had imposed his favored cargo handler. This cargo firm charged an overprice of $30 per ton, or P1.08 billion in all, at the exchange rate of P45:$1 (see Gotcha, 21 May 2014). Pangilinan identified it as the Makati-based Avega Bros. Integrated Shipping Corp.

Calayag made himself scarce when news broke of Pangilinan’s investigation. So did his patron, Agriculture Sec. Proceso Alcala. Made to speak for them was a lesser cohort, one Dennis Guerrero. This erstwhile special assistant of Calayag at the NFA claimed that it was Vinafood that chose Avega, not them. “The NFA had nothing to do with the selection ... nor had a contract with the cargo handler,” he lied with a straight face.

But the NFA contract with Vinafood specifies: “The Supplier (Vinafood) shall utilize the Cargo Handler appointed by the Entity (NFA) for the unloading and delivery of the cargoes from the disport to the designated warehouses, for the Supplier’s account. The scope of work of the Cargo Handler is subject to the conformity of the Entity.”

Calayag and NFA deputy administer Ludovico Jarina had signed the contract, which Alcala as chairman endorsed to the NFA Council. Presumably they coached Guerrero on what to fib.

Pangilinan said there illegally was no public bidding for the multibillion-peso cargo handling. The culprits hid the fact that they had forced Vinafood to select a cargo handler only from the NFA’s accredited list. There was only one company in that list: Avega. That’s because they had rigged the accreditation process — limiting applicants to only those who’ve had five years’ experience in handling NFA rice imports. It so happens that the NFA has hired only Avega nonstop for a decade, which Cebu shipping lines have been decrying.

Last May 6 Calayag and Guerrero resigned from the NFA. This purportedly was so Pangilinan could take over as Presidential Assistant on Agricultural Modernization and Food Security. Now it turns out that Alcala duplicitously has moved them to the Dept. of Agriculture as assistant secretary and chief of staff, respectively. From there, they snipe at Pangilinan’s efforts to clean up the graft-ridden agency.

Calayag’s very entry to the NFA was by his and Alcala’s deceit. A one-time congressional aide of Alcala, Calayag had migrated to the US in 2006, where he acquired citizenship and worked odd jobs befitting his low skills. Late Dec. 2012 he returned to Manila using his US passport. Alcala promptly handed him an appointment as NFA Council member, antedated July 2012. It was anomalous, for there was no vacancy then; the then-NFA chief was yet to resign three months later. That, and the legal requirement that NFA Councilmen must be natural-born Filipino citizens, mattered not for Alcala and Calayag. In the first half of Jan. 2013 Calayag took on dual citizenship, making him a mere naturalized Filipino, right after which Alcala anointed him NFA administrator.

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Duplicity is a habit as well of high transport officials. This is being demonstrated again and again at the Metro Rail Transit Line-3.

Over the past three weeks the MRT-3 has bogged down for various reasons. Last Wednesday it was due to flooding on a stretch of tracks. On the Saturday before that, the radio communications repeater conked out. The whole prior weekend, trains simply stopped dead on their tracks.

Through it all, Sec. of Transportation and Communications Joseph Emilio Abaya and MRT-3 acting general manager Honorito Chaneco could only mumble promises of speedy repair. Never did they dwell on the true reason for the frequent breakdowns: the non-upkeep of the railway system.

But DOTC and MRT-3 insiders know better. A mere half-hour of heavy rains flooded the ground-level tracks because the submersible water pumps in the side canals weren’t working. The maintenance consortium of Global Inc. and Autre Porte Technique had not checked them before the onset of the rainy season, as required. When the repeater tower went dead, MRT-3 should have switched to backup radios or all-day mobile phones. Although paid $1.4 million (P63 million) a month to stockpile on spare parts and crucial equipment, Global-APT had none of those. “Technical problems” supposedly made the trains halt while cruising to and from stations. Abaya and Chaneco gingerly avoided blaming Global-APT’s sloppy maintenance for it. Why?

This column has exposed many times why. Global is controlled by Abaya’s compadre, one Marlo dela Cruz. Abaya is acting president of the ruling Liberal Party, of which dela Cruz is a financier. A partner of dela Cruz in Global is a high official of the Philippine National Railways, a conflict of interest that Abaya and Chaneco are abetting.

Abaya, Chaneco, and U-Sec. Jose Perpetuo Lotilla had signed Global-APT’s yearlong contract in Aug. 2013 after a contrived bidding. They should be investigated for graft. Now they are plotting to extend the contract by one to three years. This is to be done by closed-door negotiation — on the pretext of having no more time for open bidding, as the contract is to expire on Sept. 4. It takes three months to hold a public bidding, from invitation of bidders to announcement of winner. Why they had not deigned to initiate it since June, only fraudsters can say.

Abaya and Chaneco claim to have been delayed too by the slowness of the Metro Rail Transit Corp. to review the bidding’s terms of reference. Yet it’s on record: MRTC, the private builder-owner of the rail system, received the T-O-R from MRT-3 — incomplete at that — only last week, not as far back as June. In short, the “lack of material time for public bidding” is a falsification by Abaya and his ex-classmate Chaneco.

The maintenance contract with Global-APT’s predecessor, the consortium of PH Trams-CB&T, was a result of duplicity too. When the ten-year service deal of Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. expired in July 2010, DOTC-MRT-3 extended it thrice by six months, and one last time by nine months. Suddenly in Oct. 2012, it contracted PH Trams for $1.15 million a month -— by “simplified bidding,” a euphemism for closed-door negotiations on the pretext of “emergency purchase.”

PH Trams was but two months old, with no experience in railways. By the time its contract expired 16 months later, it had wangled from DOTC-MRT-3 P517.5 million, 848 times its meager capital of P625,000. And who is the chairman of PH Trams. None other than Abaya’s pal, Marlo dela Cruz.

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Calling all members of Kapatirang Sigma Kappa Pi to join the 46th anniversary events tomorrow, Saturday. Aug. 30. A sports fest, national congress elections, and fellowship ball are to be held at the Intramuros, Manila, with the theme, “Expand the Brotherhood, Recommit to Nationalism and Service.” Founders Doroteo Abaya, Luzvimindo David, and Dr. Joaquin Gan, and hosts U.P.-Manila residents’ and alumni chapters welcome all EKITS. For details, call: Danny Co, (0917) 3591957; Bing Villarta, (0915) 8716762, (0949) 7752011; Jojo Salas, (0915) 3257181, (0918) 9016551; or Mike Mabutol, (0920) 9380118.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).

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