Fuentebella and PDA

On March 1, 2014, Mr. Alex Magno wrote about the rehashed and recycled issues raised by former Camarines Sur governor Luis “LRay” Villafuerte against my client, former Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella, before the Office of the Ombudsman.

It seems Villafuerte’s incessant libelous statements against Rep. Fuentebella to whomever in media are willing to listen to him are intended to direct attention away from his (Villafuerte’s) indictment by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Yes, Villafuerte is facing graft charges by the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan over the highly anomalous and ghost purchase of the Camarines Sur provincial government of P20 million worth of fuel without the benefit of public bidding.   The Sandiganbayan, in fact, has already issued a warrant for the arrest of Villafuerte just last month.

In that piece, Mr. Magno also put the Partido District of Camarines Sur in a very unflattering light which we are hereby debunking by letting the facts speak for themselves.

The Partido Development Administration (PDA) is a district level development planning and implementing agency created by a statute (Republic Act 7820, as amended) to accelerate the development of the 4th District of Camarines Sur.

PDA’s mission is to constantly improve the availability of services in the field of health, energy, water, education, agriculture, livelihood and infrastructure, among others. The most significant impact that PDA has made is the construction of a district-wide modern potable water system to provide clean and affordable water to the residents of the 4th district of Camarines Sur.

Construction of the Partido Water Supply System (PWSS) was made possible through an interest-free loan obtained by PDA from the Danish government. PWSS now serves more than 16,794 households, some of which are too distant and costly to serve given their location and topography of the area. Before its operation, only 3,315 households have access to potable water in Partido.

With PWSS, water-borne diseases have been eliminated. The revenue generated by PWSS is being utilized for the extension/expansion of its pipelines to serve more households and for the implementation of various development programs and projects for Partido Area.

PDA religiously remits to the national treasury a portion of PWSS income for the payment of its loan, thus it is a brazen lie the claim that PDA has caused massive debt for the national government.

Records show the national government has allocated P3 billion annually for the installation of shallow and deep well pumps since 1987 and even up to the present. This is equivalent to P84 billion for the past 28 years. Most of these water projects have a very short lifespan since in some locations, water sources dry up easily compared to PDA’s PWSS services, which will remain for generations.

To put this into perspective, the P84 billion spent by the government for shallow and deep well pumps could have been used instead to set up water systems similar to Partido’s in 112 legislative districts. This would have practically eradicated cholera and other water-borne diseases in almost half the country.

In addition to this, PDA has been instrumental in the establishment of several educational institutions – Philippine Science High School, Bicol Campus, Partido State University with seven campuses spread out in the district, and numerous public elementary and secondary schools. Parallel programs in the education sector were also implemented by the PDA with components such as computer literacy trainings, scholarships, provision of computer sets and others.

In the field of health, PDA has largely contributed in the establishment of several primary hospitals and a multitude of barangay health centers with adequate supply of basic medicines. Through PDA, free medical, dental, surgical and eye operations were institutionalized, benefiting less privileged individuals in Partido.

We could regale Mr. Magno with stories of PDA’s accomplishments all day, but allow us to let the facts do the talking for us. In 11 December 2013, the Governance Commission (GCG) under the Office of the President approved the Performance Scorecard of PDA for CY 2013-2014. (Attached is the approval, signed by no less than the 3 commissioners of the GCG. Also attached for your detailed information of what the PDA is all about is a narrative presentation of PDA’s operation).

The PDA is such a success that so many lawmakers have tried to replicate this for their legislative districts. Many legislators have tried to enact legislation to create a planning and development agency for their districts, yet many find themselves still trying. — Atty. JOSE MIGUEL C. PALARCA