MANILA, Philippines — Nearly half of the P2-billion worth of farm machinery released in the last five years cannot be used anymore, Agriculture Secretary William Dar disclosed Tuesday.
At the confirmation hearing of Dar as agriculture chief, Senator Panfilo Lacson asked the former on the possible corruption in the distribution of defective farm equipment.
Lacson earlier raised this issue during a Senate hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“You promised us that in four months you’re going to come up with a complete investigation report even charges being readied to be filed against those who may be involved. So what is the status of the investigation now?” Lacson asked Dar.
“What is the total amount wasted because apparently there is corruption involved. Without pointing fingers, if some officials of the DA distributed these farm equipment to farmers that were not really utilized at all because they were defective and yung presyo nito (the price are) ranging from P300,000 to P1 million per unit, my question is, ilan na ang (how many were) pulled out? Papa-repair pa ba ito (Will you have these repaired) or will you run after the supplier?” Lacson asked Dar.
In response, the agriculture chief said he has been inspecting some of the farm equipment and noticed that some of the machinery have been repaired while other “are not really in use now because it’s beyond repair.”
Dar estimated that the farm machinery released in the last five years amounted to around P2 billion.
“Maraming makinarya. Hand tractors, ranging of that from small (to large)…Mga plant bed dryers as well mga post-harvest facilities. Andami na pong hindi magamit…Mga 35 to 40 percent yung hindi magagamit na,” he said.
(There’s a lot of machinery. Hand tractors, ranging of that from small (to large)…Plant bed dryers as well as post-harvest facilities. There are a lot that can no longer be used. Around 35 to 40 percent of the equipment can no longer be used).
Dar then committed to Lacson that his department would submit its full report on the matter by March or April next year.
“I’m only emphasizing this because ito malaking (this is a huge) concern po ito. Year in and year out, we’ve scrutinizing the budget, and then we would be hearing P2 billion of equipment gone to waste,” Lacson pointed out.