COA report says DA misused P14B in public funds

The Department of Agriculture headed by Secretary Proceso Alcala misused some P14 billion in public funds, including more than P6 billion for farm-to-market roads which were never built, the Commission on Audit said in a report.

The COA pointed out that of the P7.8 billion allotted to the Farm to Market Road Development Program for the construction of 1,079.2 kilometers of farm-to-market roads in 2013, the DA was only able to complete 270.4 kilometers worth P1.7 billion.

“[Of the remaining P6.1B,] 184.4 kms costing ?1,250,359,706 or 17 percent were still on-going, and 396.5 kms totaling ?2,989,834,137 or 37 percent were either not yet started or implemented, while no status was provided for the remaining 227.9 kms costing ?1,898,680,000 or 21 percent as of December 31, 2013,” the COA enumerated.,

In the voluminous report published Tuesday, the COA also said that the DA’s release of allotments funded by the Priority Development Assistance Fund to NGO’s were irregular.

Listed as its most significant finding, the COA said that an attached agency of the department, the National Agricultural and Fishery Council (NAFC), was given P199M “through the endorsements of legislators” to implement projects that were not part of its mandate.

However, the DA had explained that it has since “stopped the transfer of funds to NAFC since June 2012. Demand letters were also sent to the agency requesting the full liquidation of the fund transfers.”

Bogus NGOs

Meanwhile, the COA also found that some of the NGO’s chosen by the DA to implement PDAF-funded projects were not legitimate. One of these NGOs is owned by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, the subject of several plunder and graft cases involving the pork barrel scam.,

“Of the 36 PDAF projects released to the four NGOs, only 19 or 52.78 percent were validated by the DA validation team. The 17 PDAF projects which were not validated included the 13 PDAF projects totalling ?15,000,000.00 with unliquidated balances of ?12,775,200.00 as of December 31, 2013,” the report said.

Also, records showed that from 2010 to 2013, Special Allotment Release Orders totaling ,P1,098,115,875.00 were released to Alcala’s office, with some 73 legislators funneling their PDAF to the Agriculture department.

The COA report echos earlier allegations made by pork barrel scam whistleblower Merlina Suñas, that the DA had been instrumental in the funneling of state funds to dummy organizations.

Alcala, a close ally of President Benigno Aquino III, has since denied that his department has been used in the pork barrel scam, which has seen three sitting senators indicted for plunder and graft charges. — Patricia Denise Chiu/DVM, GMA News