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By Anthony Vargas and Angelo S.
Samonte, Reporters
The influential head of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) blamed the
looming rice shortage on the government’s apparent mismanagement
of a multimillion-peso fertilizer fund.
The Arroyo government was accused
of diverting the fertilizer fund, intended to boost rice production,
to supporting instead the campaign coffers of the administration
ticket during the May 2004 elections.
The CBCP president, Jaro
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, said in a one-page statement Thursday
that the “impending” rice shortage could have been prevented if
the government had handled well the P729-million fertilizer fund.
“The question keeps coming
up,” the prelate added. “Whatever happened to the P729-million
fertilizer fund?”
Lagdameo also pointed out that
the government’s mismanagement of the fertilizer fund resulted in
massive importation of rice.
“The government has its eyes on
wrong or lesser priorities. We are forced to import close to a
million metric tons of rice,” Lagdameo added in his statement.
He appealed to concerned
government agencies to concentrate more on improving local rice
production and implement an effective land reform program to revive
the country’s agricultural sector.
Lagdameo said these programs
should be complemented with ample government support to the
agricultural sector to ensure food security and self-sufficiency.
“In the past, our local rice
industry used to be the backbone of our country’s economy. With
our rice technology, we were helping other countries to produce
rice,” he said.
But now, Lagdameo said those
countries the Philippines used to help, such as Vietnam, Thailand,
Indonesia and Pakistan, have surpassed Filipinos in rice production.
“Today, ironically, even
lamentable, because of unsatisfactory production of rice, lack of
credit support for our rice farmers and infrastructure development,
our farms cannot support the needs of our growing population,” he
said.
The CBCP president also said the
government should not rely or make rice importation a permanent
policy since this will open more doors for possible corruption,
instead of helping the poor.
“We will have rice on our
tables, but only for those that can afford to buy at P18 per kilo.
We will not only have limited rice, our people will also have
limited buying power,” Lagdameo said.
The controversial fertilizer fund
was coursed through the Department of Agriculture and was handled by
then-Undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante, who was
apprehended by US Immigration officials for traveling with a visa
canceled by their government. He remains in detention in the US.
The Arroyo government is
supporting Bolante’s extradition to the Philippines but has not
filed the appropriate court case to make that happen.
Swine scam
Meanwhile, Malacańang is also
accused of being involved in a multibillion-peso swine scam, that
allegedly also took place in 2004, but the Palace said its
detractors must come up with proof.
“These allegations are nonsense
without sufficient evidence,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.
“Whoever [makes an allegation] should come out with proof. This
matter is already subject to internal audit, and what we have to do
is to wait for the result of that audit.”
Asked if the Palace is ready for
a possible Senate probe, Bunye said he doesn’t want to comment,
reiterating that the President’s accusers should just wait for the
audit result.
Lawyer Harry Roque Jr. had
earlier sounded off irregularities in the government’s swine
program, saying the buck on the missing funds at the Quedan Rural
Credit and Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) stops at President Arroyo’s
doorstep.
He said Quedancor was attached to
the Office of the President when a multibillion-peso swine scam took
place in 2004, adding that those behind the alleged anomaly may have
skimmed off more than P300 million in “arranger’s fees” for
facilitating loans for the swine program.
On Wednesday, Roque said
government may have spent some P900 million out of its P2.46-billion
swine program to fund the 2004 election campaign of the President.
Roque also said the Commission on
Audit confirmed some P700 million in unrecorded receivables in 2004,
and a bigger amount in unrecorded receivables—P1.6 billion—in
2005.
He also said another anomaly
involving the swine program involved up to P300 million in
questionable “arranger’s fees” for the loans in the program.
This move was unusual because the
loan was between the Land Bank of the Philippines, a government
bank, and Quedancor, a government-owned and controlled corporation.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap
cannot escape liability, because he was already a member of the
firm’s board of directors at the time of the swine scam, Roque
said.
While Yap ordered the
irregularity investigated, he himself should be among those who
should be investigated, Roque said.
Yap said he can no longer do
anything if Roque insists that he was involved in the mess, saying
he has brought the case to the Ombudsman and to the National Bureau
of Investigation.
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