MANILA, Philippines?The P728-million fertilizer fund allegedly used to fund President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's 2004 election campaign was said to be a scam or a "grand agricultural theft" due to several reasons pointed out in 2005 by Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., then chair of the Senate agriculture committee, and by the Commission on Audit (COA).

NO PUBLIC BIDDING. Although it is the policy of the government to procure goods and services generally through public bidding, which shall be transparent, no public bidding was conducted and the fertilizers were purchased from exclusive distributors, according to the COA. The commission noted that other brands of fertilizer "with equivalent composition" could have been obtained at lower prices.

ONE-TIME, BIG TIME. The fund was a single appropriation meant only for 2004 -- in the months of the election season in particular. The huge expense has not been repeated since.

UNIFORM AMOUNTS. The special allotment release order (SARO) specified disbursement of uniform amounts, regardless of which congressional districts or local units the proponents represented, whether the same were rice or corn-producing local government units (LGUs) or not. Even legislative districts within non-agricultural areas like Metro Manila were included in the list.

WRONG FERTILIZER. Foliar fertilizer was supplied. This type of fertilizer is appropriate for ornamental plants and not for rice.

GROSS OVERPRICING. The fertilizers supplied were grossly overpriced. Ordinary foliar fertilizer, for example, was overpriced by almost 700 to 1,250 percent.

WATERED DOWN. The overpriced fertilizers were not even pure fertilizer but were diluted with water.

GHOST SUPPLIERS. Transactions had ghost and questionable suppliers. Akame Marketing, an identified supplier, was reported to have a telephone number corresponding to a gulayan (vegetable stall) in Caloocan City. A witness stated that Feshan Philippines, Inc., one of the largest suppliers, was originally a medical supplier and began supplying fertilizer only in 2004.

GHOST RECIPIENTS. The transactions also had ghost recipients. According to the COA, of the 13 nongovernment organizations that entered into agreements concerning the fertilizer fund, only five NGOs were found to have legitimate addresses.

CLUELESS DA. Nobody in the Department of Agriculture knew of the existence of the "Farm Inputs and Implements" program (the fertilizer fund was said to form a part of this program "to assist LGUs in boosting their agricultural production and increasing farmers' income.") In the files of the DA itself, there was not a single document that would support the existence of such a program. When asked, the DA could not justify where the fund was appropriated, by whom and who disbursed it.

FUND WAS TOO BIG. The fertilizer requirements for 2003 were only P28.613 million for the entire Philippines. Corresponding adjustments would not have reached the amount released for the year 2004.

Sources: Senate agriculture committee's interim report (Dec. 15, 2005); COA Report on the Audit of the P728-million Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Farm Input Fund.