P2.5B in agri loans lost to ‘ghost’ borrowers — Drilon

The government lost P2.5 billion in loans after “ghost" borrowers got billions in assistance last year from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF), a special-purpose fund for farmers and cooperatives, Sen. Franklin Drilon said Thursday. “The government is clearly prejudiced in this case because the amount could not be collected anymore since these are clearly ghost borrowers," said Drilon, who chairs the Senate finance committee. Citing the latest report of the Commission on Audit (COA), Drilon said the Department of Agriculture extended loans to hundreds of companies from 2000 to 2009 – mostly years that cover the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The COA, however, could not locate the alleged ghost borrowers, said the senator. Drilon said he suspects that business ventures were opened to get advances from the multi-billion government credit line. He also said there appears to be “collusion between previous DA officials and recipients of the agricultural support fund, since borrowing does not require collateral and has no interest." Senate probe “We do not want to see a repeat of this," said Drilon, adding he could include the matter in an impending Senate investigation into the alleged irregularities in farm-to-market projects during the latter part of Arroyo’s term. In another statement, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the Senate committee on agriculture and food, which he chairs, will investigate the alleged irregularities surrounding the ACEF. “This investigation comes at a crucial time in our efforts to uplift the lives of our farmers and fisherfolk," Pangilinan said. “Our farmers and fisherfolk belong to the most impoverished sector of society. They are most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. We cannot by inaction allow those who mismanaged the funds to get away with it," the senator added. Meanwhile, at a briefing at the Department of Agriculture on Thursday, Agriculure Undersecretary Antonio Fleta said there was no anomaly in the previous loan transactions administered by the agency’s fund committee. “We fiercely believe that most of the loans were availed of by delinquent borrowers. These are public funds. We’ll make sure that the borrowers will pay their obligations to the government. If not, sisiguraduhin din naming na merong makukulong," he said. - KBK, GMA News