P50 M in fertilizer fund went to MM

Are there farms and farmers in Metro Manila?

While many farming areas in the provinces were not included in the list of beneficiaries of fertilizer bought out of the P2.8 billion in farm input funds that Malacañang released before the May 2004 presidential elections, Metro Manila was allotted P50 million in such funds.

Official documents from the Commission on Audit (COA) obtained by The STAR showed that the money was allocated to the districts of 16 Metro Manila congressmen, many of whom did not request for the allocation or receive even a single centavo of the millions that were supposed to have been appropriated for their constituencies.

Others who got their allotments felt they could not justify the purchase of fertilizer since their districts are mostly asphalt and concrete. Instead, they used the money to buy garbage shredders.

On Feb. 2, 2004 or three months before the election, former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante requested Malacañang to release P728 million in fertilizer funds.

He attached to his request a list of 110 congressmen, 53 governors and 26 town mayors who supposedly requested for the money. Included in the list were Rep. Federico Sandoval II of Malabon-Navotas and former Quezon City representative Maite Defensor.

The next day, Feb. 3, Bolante got the funds he asked for. The Department of Budget and Management released to the Department of Agriculture Special Allotment Release Order E-04-00164 for P728 million. The SARO was signed by Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos. It was to be the first of four releases totaling P2.806 billion, made between February and April.

Subsequently, the agriculture department sent a list of more congressmen and local officials to support its requests for funds.

Included in these submissions were Representatives Ernesto Nieva, Jaime Lopez and Rodolfo Bacani of Manila, Nanette Daza of Quezon City, Consuelo Dy of Pasay City, Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati, Neptali Gonzales of Mandaluyong, Del de Guzman of Marikina, Cynthia Villar of Las Piñas, Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Muntinlupa, Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque, Sherwin Gatchalian and Magtanggol Gunigundo I of Valenzuela City and Alan Peter Cayetano of Taguig-Pateros.

Except for Zialcita, who was allocated P5 million, all were to have received P3 million each. The total allocations for the 16 districts amounted to P50 million.

Government auditors have established that the districts of at least three of these House members received their funds. They are those of Zialcita, Daza and Sandoval.

Verification made by The STAR showed that at least one more district, that of Gonzales, who was majority leader before he ran for and is now mayor of Mandaluyong City, received its allocation. Gonzales said he used the money to buy two garbage shredders.

Locsin, Villar, Cayetano, Biazon and Gunigundo have all denied they asked for fertilizer or received the money that was supposed to have been allotted to them.

In the case of the other lawmakers, either they did not get their funds or received them but the money is still being audited. Their names have not appeared in the auditors’ reports on the use of the billions in pesos in farm input funds released for what the opposition had described as election purposes.

Reached by The STAR, Gunigundo, now a former congressman, said he could not have asked for fertilizer since there is no farming area in his district.

He said it was obvious that agriculture officials used their names to support their requests for the release of funds.

Like several Metro Manila lawmakers, many congressmen in the provinces and governors who were listed in the requests did not get their allocations. One such congressman is Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III of Tarlac.

Among the governors who did not receive his allotment is Jose Zubiri of Bukidnon.

In his letter dated last Nov. 16 to Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Senate agriculture committee, Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban tried to explain why some of those in the lists attached to the fund requests did not receive their funds.

Magsaysay’s committee is looking into the fertilizer fund scam.

Panganiban said some of those listed "were unable to comply with the documentary requirements of the (fertilizer distribution) program," prompting the agriculture department to give "their allocation to the next deserving proponents."

He clarified that Locsin and Villar "were not recipients."

Most of the farm input funds allotted to congressmen in the provinces was used to purchase liquid fertilizer through private foundations, to which the money was diverted. In Bicol and some parts of Cebu and Ifugao, auditors have discovered that liquid fertilizer was overpriced by 800 percent to 1,300 percent.

In Bicol, out of P60.7 million that has been audited, nearly P49 million, or 82 percent, was apparently skimmed through overpricing.