Gov't hog program funds diverted to 2004 kitty?

MANILA, Philippines - The government may have spent some P900 million out of its P2.46-billion swine program to fund the 2004 election campaign, a civil society lawyer said Wednesday. In an interview on dzBB radio, lawyer Harry Roque Jr said he is now organizing the documents involving balances of up to P900-million in the government swine program involving Quedan and Rural Credit Corp. (Quedancor). Notably, the balance was spent during an election year, Roque said. "Inaayos ko pa ang documents. May balance na P900 million, nagastos ang P900 million na yan sa isang taon na may election (I am now organizing the documents. There is a balance of P900 million that was spent in an election year)," Roque said. Roque declined to give further details of the alleged election spending, but blasted Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap for denying involvement in the scam. Yap was a board member of Quedancor in 2004, when the alleged irregularities in the swine program took place. At the time, Yap headed the National Food Authority (NFA). Roque noted the project never went through a competitive bidding, adding the board of directors, including Yap, approved the contract. The Commission on Audit (COA), he added, confirmed some P700 million in unrecorded receivables in 2004, and a bigger amount in unrecorded receivables – P1.6 billion – in 2005. "Nadiskubre ng COA, P176 million lang natanggap ng magsasaka... Ang P1.5 billion hindi nakarating sa intended beneficiaries (The Coa discovered that farmers received only P176 million, and the P1.5 billion never reached the intended beneficiaries)," Roque said. Roque also questioned why Yap did not act on the irregularities when Quedancor was informed of it as early as 2005. He noted an investigation was started only in 2006. By that time, he said, "nalustay na ang P1.66 billion (P1.66 billion had already been spent)." On the other hand, he said the firms contracted for the deal had no financial capability, accreditation or track record, and did not go through public bidding. Worse, Roque said they had interlocking shareholders and directors. In a separate interview, Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said they already charged some officials led by Nelson Buenaflor for graft before the Ombudsman over the irregularities. He also downplayed the reported irregularities, saying P1 billion had been collected out of the P2.46 billion. He also said their investigation into the mess is "continuing." "May balance na P1.4 billion, current ang ibang accounts. Nakukulekta at nababayad ang utang, ang madugo P837 million di na makaka-perform. Ang problema namin more of collection (We have a balance of P1.4 billion. We have been able to collect on payments though P837 million has been marked as non-performing. Our problem now is more of collection)," he said. - GMANews.TV