From Fertilizer Scam to Rice Scam

[godsaint]

Gov’t rice scam bared

Auditors uncover fake signatures of farmers

By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:35:00 09/15/2008


MANILA, Philippines—Fake signatures on the list of beneficiaries were among the irregularities in last year’s P218.7-million expenditure of the Department of Agriculture for hybrid rice, certified seeds, farm inputs and fertilizers for farmers in four regions, according to the Commission on Audit.

The purchases were part of the GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) program intended for the “poorest, often neglected” sectors of the population—farmers and fisherfolk—to increase their harvest and boost competition in the global market.

“[T]he good intention of the GMA rice program to reduce poverty incidence and attain national food security is tainted with weaknesses and irregularities in its implementation, reducing the effectiveness of the program,” said a report released recently by the COA.

The GMA program also figured in another scam in which former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante allegedly diverted P728 million in fertilizer funds to finance President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaign during the 2004 presidential election.

At least 52 signatures of farmers on the list of recipients of rice seeds and fertilizer were faked, while 139 of 593 recipients interviewed from Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas received little of the farm subsidies or none at all, according to the COA 2007 report on the Department of Agriculture.

In Central Luzon (Region 3) alone, the list of 650 farmers who were supposed to receive hybrid rice and certified seeds included 84 people who were not identified as beneficiaries.

Of the 240 farmer-beneficiaries interviewed by the COA, 8 percent disclosed that they did not receive the seeds and that their signatures on the list were not theirs.

Political intervention

Eighty-six of the farmer-beneficiaries informed the COA that they did not receive the fertilizers distributed by municipal agricultural officers.

Municipal agricultural officers attributed the discrepancy in the listing to “political intervention.”

In the report, the COA said the DA-Regional Field Unit in Central Luzon purchased a total of 235,780.65 bags of hybrid rice and certified seeds worth P73.28 million to be distributed to various provinces in the region.

It also spent P103.73 million on farm inputs and fertilizers as government subsidy for the farmer-beneficiaries.

The COA also found that part of the fertilizer was wasted due to its late distribution to farmers. In Barangay Laoang in Tarlac City, an audit team found 37 packs of Bio-N fertilizer worth P2,220 lying around in a waiting shed.

Farmer-beneficiaries in Southern Tagalog (Region 4) encountered the same anomalies. Some of them denied the signatures on the list and others claimed that the farm subsidies distributed to them were lacking.

The region spent P18.72 million for the GMA Rice Program for the wet season last year, according to the report.

Sampling

Interviews of beneficiaries were conducted on a sampling basis and were performed in Laguna, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro and Busuanga Island in Palawan, according to the COA.

Of the 94 recipients in Occidental Mindoro and Laguna, eight said they did not receive the correct quantity of seeds while 12 got more as required.

Thirty-two of the farmers claimed that the signatures on the master list were not theirs, while 28 revealed the discrepancy of the actual size of the farms with the agriculture technicians’ records.

“Audit likewise disclosed that technicians do not always follow the one-bag-one-hectare scheme in distributing seeds,” the report said.

Favored farmers get more

“Interviews also revealed that technicians increase the seeds they gave to farmers they favor and compensate the difference by lessening the seeds of other beneficiaries,” the report said.

But validation conducted in the DA-Regional Field Unit in Central Visayas “could not be completely relied upon” since the signatures of at least three farmers differed from what appeared on the list and two did not receive the subsidized seeds, the COA said.

The agency encountered other irregularities: 14 out of 46 recipients did not receive the right amount of seeds and other farm inputs while a total of nine whose names did not appear in the list acknowledged the receipt of the subsidized seeds.

While the audit team found no discrepancy between the amount of hybrid and certified rice seeds distributed and the quantity received by farmers in Eastern Visayas, the COA noted that not all rice seeds received per master list reached the intended beneficiaries.

Unaccounted for

The DA-Regional Field Unit in Eastern Visayas purchased 39,791 bags of hybrid and certified rice seeds worth P22.96 million intended for 20,201 farmer-beneficiaries.

But of the 1,345 kilos of rice seeds allotted to 11 beneficiaries per list, only 721 kilos or 54 percent actually reached the concerned farmers. There were 624 kilos or 46 percent of the rice seeds unaccounted for, it added.

“We recommend and management agreed to design a systematic procedure to improve the manner of distribution of farm inputs and implements to the intended farmers and monitor the distribution to maximize use of government resources and increase performance level,” the COA said.

[radiostar]

wala najud hope ang philippines

[Motownkid]

wa pa gani nahuman ang fertilizer scam..tsk tsk looya intawn sa mga pobre samot ka-pobre..

[W.Axl Rose]

molambo gyud ang pilipinas aning kalakiha ........... bwehehehehe

[godsaint]

Naa pa daw daghan mga naa tanom na sa hybrid rice nila nga hangtod karon wla pa man daw nanagko.Somewhere in Inayawan acording sa news ganihang buntag.

[ManWhore]

grabe sad, wa may pili ning mga buayaha, hasta munas ginhawa intawn nga mga farmers ila man gihapon patulan sa ila corruption

[wakkanakka]

That's why I always say it is the corruption that is responsible for making Filipinos poor. How much of those inputs were wasted? Can you imagine how much more rice and other agriculture products could have been produced if this were not wasted or stolen?

[ingkiang]

pgkawalay consensya aning mga taohana oi....motoo pani sila ug ginoo?

[godsaint]

Problem is who will be held responsible for this?Here in our country politicians and corrupt officials can rob and waste peoples money without being held in prison.In Thailand a prime minister was overthrown just because he accept payment in a cooking show.But here millions of bribed and under the table transactions are happening everyday.Our justice system is sleeping.

[666satan]

sleeping...because of money...hehehe

[jmulch]

mao nay hadlok, kani ra ang mga scam nga nauncover dayun daghan na kaayo kwarta nawala, unsa pa kaha ng mga wa nauncover ug mga scam sa LGU level

[ekss]

what else is new? :P

[omar50071]

Whitewash feared in Bolante decision
By Michael Lim Ubac, Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:23:00 11/09/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Crying “coverup” and “whitewash,” a senator and a militant group on Saturday assailed the decision on Friday of the Office of the Ombudsman to dismiss the graft complaint lodged against former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante and 10 others.
Sen. Mar Roxas cast doubt on the fairness of the Ombudsman, saying the junking of the complaint could be “the start of an official whitewash of the anomalies in the agriculture sector in the Arroyo administration.”

The leftist Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), for its part, said that with the dismissal of the case, Bolante could eventually be acquitted in the plunder case filed against him and President Macapagal-Arroyo in connection with the fertilizer fund scam.
The opposition has accused Malacañang of diverting P728 million in a fertilizer subsidy to farmers to the campaign kitty of President Arroyo in the 2004 polls.

Whitewash feared in Bolante decision - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

[edgeknife]

manglayas na ta sa 'pinas.....

[rob123]

Quote: Originally Posted by edgeknife manglayas na ta sa 'pinas.....

maayo pa tale..cge tana...