COA reveals pork-like disbursements in PNoy’s flagship program

When the pork barrel scam exploded into national news in 2013, the Aquino government was quick to wash its hands and point out that the anomalies occurred during the term of predecessor Gloria Arroyo.

 

That was accurate. After all, the Commission on Audit’s Special Audit on the spending of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) covered disbursements from 2007- 2009.

 

But the same defense cannot hold now.

 

In COA’s latest report on the Department of Agriculture, the audit agency found more of the same irregularities in disbursed PDAF funds from 2010-2013.

 

In November 2013, the Supreme Court declared the PDAF unconstitutional. But the naysayers in government were not completely appeased. This, they say, is far from the end of political largesse. The pork barrel, after all, goes by many other names.

 

As now revealed in the latest audit of the agriculture department, the funds for the Organic Agricultural Program were used much like a pork barrel, with legislators having a say in how department budget should be spent.

 

2013 DA audit: same old, same old --and more

 

The 2013 audit on the Department of Agriculture covering the early years of President Aquino’s administration reveals that, among others, millions of pesos worth of PDAF funds for agricultural programs still ended up in the hands of some dubious non-government organizations.

 

COA takes exception as well to projects implemented under the DA’s organic agricultural program and the Aquino administration’s brainchild Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

 

COA notes the pork-barrel-like endorsement of funds from certain legislators to local government units, or even questionable non-government organizations (NGO) under the National Organic Agricultural Program (NOAP) of the agency.

 

The DA is the lead agency of the NOAP, a program borne out of the “green policy” of the Aquino government. In 2010, the President signed Republic Act 10068, also known as the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010.

 

The audit finds that seven senators and four representatives or their chief of staff endorsed 14 Organic Agriculture Fund (OAF) projects worth Php 98.75 million.

This, the report says, was not in accordance with the DA Administrative Order No. 1 s 2013 which requires that projects should be identified by prospective project proponents which could come from the private, government sector, and non-governmental sector.

 

“Hence, fund transfers to NGOs and LGUs should have been directly requested by them instead from the legislators. This is to avoid the utilization of the OAF though political intervention,” the COA says.

 

COA also noted the lack of monitoring reports for the progress of OAF projects, and the non-liquidation of fund transfers. This, COA stated, signified delayed implementation of projects. The weak reporting system also made it difficult to assess if the projects were successful or not.

 

Same names: Estrada, Enrile, and Revilla

Three senators-- Ramon Revilla Jr, Jinggoy Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile-- who appeared in the list of proponent legislators under NOAP are currently detained for their alleged involvement in the PDAF scam.

 

COA records show that they collectively endorsed Php 55 million worth of projects under the Organic Agriculture program.

 

Last year, however, the Senate committee on agriculture pushed for a special audit of the Organic Agriculture Fund after allegations of misuse.

 

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who appeared in the list as a proponent, denied that he participated in any of the transactions or agreement involving the use of the OAF. He later filed criminal and administrative cases against several DA officials.

 

Thirteen senators, including some of those in the list of proponents under the NOAP –Pimentel, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente Sotto—endorsed the committee report asking for the special audit of the multi-billion peso Organic Agriculture Fund of the DA.

 

“Our legislators should not be involved in any way on the disbursement of DA funds,” said Nori Ignacio, Executive Director of Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE).

 

Ignacio urged COA to immediately file appropriate charges of graft and corruption with the Ombudsman or Sandiganbayan so that erring public officials will be held accountable.

 

“Nasaan na ang separation of powers dito ng executive at legislative branch? In the end, mga magsasaka ang nagsa-suffer sa pamumulitika na ito. Ginagamit lamang sila para magpakayaman ang public officials,” Ignacio said.

 

Dubious NGOs

 

COA questions the OAF utilization and implementation of two NGOs: the Kaupdanan para sa Mangunguma Foundation Inc. which got P1.5 million, and the Coprahan at Gulayan Foundation Inc., which got P5 million. The agency said the NGOs did not conduct public bidding for the livelihood materials of the NGOs’ respective projects.

 

Kaupdanan was one of the alleged bogus NGOs of Janet Lim Napoles. PDAF, as well as Malampaya Funds intended for farmer-beneficiaries affected by tropical cyclones Ondoy and Pepeng, were channeled to this NGO.

 

Coprahan at Gulayan Foundation, Inc. got its OAF funding for the implementation of agri-based livelihood enhancement and development of crops and vermicomposting project in the municipality of Arayat, Pampanga. According to COA, Agham Party-list representative Angelo R. Palmones endorsed the project.

 

This is not the first time Coprahan was noted in a COA audit report of DA.

 

In 2007, COA noted the NGO’s doubtful procurement and distribution of farm inputs worth Php 5million. COA mentioned the delayed implementation of the project.

 

In the same year, COA said that the Coprahan received a total of Php 31 million of government funds although it was an NGO of “questionable integrity.”

 

GMA News Research’s own investigation in 2013 found that Coprahan was connected with another questionable NGO.

 

Marissa C. Cruz, incorporator or Coprahan, is also an incorporator of Las Marias Foundation, Inc.

 

In its 2007 audit on DA, COA said Las Marias’ implementation of a total of P22 million worth of projects in Laguna and Oriental Mindoro were “doubtful”.

 

GMA News Research tried to contact the legislators mentioned in the audit report for comment.

 

Oriental Mindoro 2nd District Rep. Reynaldo Umali is still trying to get hold of some documents; he said he will issue a reply once he completes them.

 

Among the senators who endorsed OAF projects, only the offices of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III have replied.

 

In a letter dated April 28, 2015, Senator Estrada’s Chief of Staff Atty. Racquel Mejia said the senator's office is currently checking its records with respect to the specific project endorsements identified in the audit report.

 

Mejia recalls that the senator’s office received “numerous requests” for endorsement from local government units after the enactment of RA 10068 (Organic Agriculture Act of 2010). They have been getting similar requests even before then; LGUs would come to them asking for funding or asking to be considered as project proponents of government projects.

 

"The least the Office could do was to forward to the Department of Agriculture or any implementing agency for their consideration the requests of LGUs to undertake projects," she stated.

 

Estrada's office further clarified that the senator's endorsements do not mean automatic approval of the projects. "Endorsements are usually made on the understanding that proper and prescribed procedures will still be observed and strictly followed, and that all proposals would still be evaluated and subsequently approved or rejected by the agency in accordance with governing laws and regulations," Mejia added.

 

THE GODOFREDO ROQUE GROUP

 

The Janet Napoles group of NGOs did not have the monopoly on pork barrel anomalies.

 

In a series of investigative reports from 2013 up to last year, GMA News Research exposed another network of dubious NGOs– the “Godofredo Roque” group composed of NGOs controlled by a few people.

 

These NGOs secured government projects worth at least P1.7 billion, and used suppliers they themselves own and control.

 

This network is composed of at least 15 NGOs, 5 suppliers, and 17 individuals, with Godofredo Roque among the persons with the most connections in the web.

 

In this latest audit report on the DA, the NGOs of both Napoles and Godofredo Roque were again cited for various anomalies in the implementation of livelihood projects.

 

These projects were funded by Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP under the High Value Commercial Crops, Livestock and Corn Program of DA. Early this year, the Supreme Court affirmed the unconstitutionality of some of the provisions of the DAP.

 

Under the High Value Commercial Crops, Livestock and Corn Program (HVCCLCP), DA-Office of the Secretary entered into a Memorandum Agreement with four NGOs worth a total of Php 30.5 million, with fund transfers totalling to Php 11.62 million.
 

Those questioned by COA were the alleged Napoles-owned Kaupdanan, the Maharlikang Lipi Foundation, Roque NGOs Kabuhayan at Kalusugan Alay sa Masa Foundation, Inc (KKAMFI) and Kasangga sa Magandang Bukas Foundation (KMBFI).

 

Based on this latest audit, KKAMFI, KMBFI, and another Roque NGO—the Gabay at Pag-asa ng Masa Foundation Inc. (GPMFI) – got PDAF worth P73.8 million in 2013.

 

The suppliers that these NGOs used – George Roque Enterprises Inc., JL Soriano Inc., and M.A. Guerrero Enterprises Inc. – are likewise part of the Roque group.

 

This connection between the NGOs and the suppliers was affirmed by the 2013 COA report on DA.

 

In its discussion of the Php 7.5 million livelihood project of KMBFI in Davao City, COA pointed out that the implementation of the project was not in accordance with the prescribed regulations, noting that there was a monopoly in the relationship between the supplier and the NGO.

 

“KMBFI submitted an Affidavit that it has no other related business in compliance with Section 4.4.4 of COA Circular No. 2007-001. However, four of its five Incorporators are also incorporators/ Officers of other NGOs that were also accredited by DA to implement PDAF/DAP projects,” COA says.

 

“Moreover, a check with the SEC revealed that Joel L. Soriano, one of the Incorporators of KMBFI, is also the Incorporator, President and Board Chair of JL Soriano, Inc., who was awarded to supply and deliver the 4,700 sets or 7,050,000.00 worth of KKK Manual (KKK – Gabay Para sa Kabuhayan Manual), thereby showing monopoly in the project implementation.”

 

This was common practice for the Godofredo Roque Group.

 

In 2013, GMA News Research and the Special Assignments Team revealed in a series of special reports that the NGO, the local government of Virac, Catanduanes, and the suppliers are included, or connected, to the Godofredo Roque Group. - With reports from Agatha Guidaben and Mary Anne Señir