 BOLANTE,
AUMENTADO, CHATTO, CAJES, JALA | | If
figures based on documents of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and
the Commission on Audit (COA) are accurate, the province received P14 million
in fertilizer funds at the height of the 2004 elections.
However,
Gov. Erico Aumentado, Representatives Edgar Chatto (First District), Roberto Cajes
(Second |
District)
and former Third District congressman Eladio Jala all denied they actually received
the fertilizer allocations in cash.Aumentado
said he did not receive a single centavo out of the P5 million reportedly given
to the provincial government as reflected in the DBM records of fund releases.
Chatto,
Cajes and Jala also explained that they did not personally receive the farm inputs
or any fund for the purpose.
The
DBM and COA documents revealed the three solons as recipients of P3 million each.
The
two incumbent solons and Jala, who is now assistant secretary of the Department
of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), all welcomed the Senate probe into
the P728 million fertilizer subsidy that were allegedly diverted to bankroll the
2004 campaign of Arroyo and administration candidates.
| | | During
Friday's "The Governor Reports", Aumentado said that he was only informed
that fertilizers were delivered to the Provincial Agriculture Office. The farm
inputs were purportedly purchased by the regional office of the Department of
Agriculture (DA).
Provincial
Agriculturist Liza Quirog, in a separate interview, confirmed that no less than
40 towns were beneficiaries of the fertilizers distributed by the DA but could
not give the amount of the farm inputs.
Quirog
recalled having received and distributed the liquid (foliar) fertilizers to the
towns sometime in July 2004. | The
delivery of the fertilizers was done all at the same time with all the boxes brought
to the provincial DA office.
The
governor assigned Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Bebot Pinat to handle the
distribution of the fertilizers to the municipal agriculture officers in the towns.
SOLONS
EXPLAIN
The
three solons said they all want to clear their names and welcomes the ongoing
Senate inquiry with the testimony of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn
"Jocjoc" Bolante.
Rep.
Chatto disclosed that it was then DA Regional Director Eduardo Lecciones who facilitated
the fertilizer support program funneled directly to the local government units.
In
his district, Chatto said it was Balilihan town that became the recipient since
the interior town is known for enhancing agricultural productivity.
Vice
Mayor Dominisio Chatto, who was then town mayor, was the one who implemented and
audited in accordance with the procurement rules and procedures with full documentation.
Full
liquidation of fund disbursements was done with the DA regional office, according
to Balilihan municipal treasurer Lina Banac.
For
his part, Rep. Cajes said he was asked by the regional DA to identify two towns
that need fertilizers the most.
Cajes
said he recommended San Isidro and Dagohoy towns. After recommending the towns,
he never heard again what happened to the fertilizer support.
Then
Dagohoy Mayor Sofronio Apat and then San Isidro Mayor Boy Samoya, both were not
able to give him updates on the distribution of the fertilizers as he was already
in the thick of the campaign for the 2004 elections.
Meanwhile,
ASec. Jala said that when asked by Regional Director Eduardo Lecciones what town
he wanted to receive fertilizers, he recommended the town of Bilar being one of
the top rice producing towns in the province.
He
was able to confirm from Bilar Mayor Fanuel Cadelina that organic fertilizers,
granules, and not liquid, were distributed in his town.
Cajes,
who used to chair the House committee on ethics recalled that Task Force Abuno,
created by the Office of the Ombudsman, visited the town when the fertilizer scam
erupted in the media.
In
fact, he learned that a team from COA visited the town. He was informed by Mayor
Cadelina that the team found no irregularity on the distribution of the fertilizers.
"Even
before, I already favored the investigation of the fertilizer fund because my
district will be affected by this mess when in fact it is really an agricultural
district unlike Makati and Quezon City that were also listed to be recipients
of farm inputs," Cajes said.
"I'm
sure there are available official records that would help in the investigations,"
he added.
PRESIDENT'S
ALLIES
According
to a report of the Ombudsman, 53 governors, 105 congressmen and 23 municipal and
city mayors received different amounts out of the fertilizer fund.
Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Bohol chair John Ruiz III said while not all solons
and local officials got the farm subsidy, most of those included in the list of
recipients were identified either as partymates or pro-Arroyo.
According
to Ruiz, the three Bohol solons and the governor are just as responsible as the
Arroyo administration on the fertilizer scam.
"Being
the privileged few of supposed "trusted" government officials to implement
such multi-million national program, it entails a sense of responsibility of the
individual "public servants" to ensure that his/her poor farmer constituents
would not be short change."
Bayan
made this statement as Ruiz claims that farmers under the Hugpong sa mga Mag-uumang
Bol-anon (Humabol) "never heard of the actual distribution process of the
fertilizers."
In
a survey conducted over dyRD, 95-percent of respondents do not believe that Pres.
Arroyo is not involved in the supposed P728 million anomaly.
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