‘My God!’ Piqued Villar scolds officials over ACEF fund confusion

MANILA, Philippines — Student beneficiaries of scholarships financed by the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) have yet to receive their diplomas due to the non-payment of their respective tuition fees, a piqued Senator Cynthia Villar pointed out during a Senate hearing.

During the Senate agriculture committee hearing, Villar castigated budget officials after she learned that ACEF funds are supposedly still passing through the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Under the new ACEF law, Villar noted that funds, released by the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), should go directly to the Landbank, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and state universities and colleges (SUCs) for the implementation of agriculture-related programs.

The ACEF fund comes from the tariffs collected by the Bureau of Customs from imported agriculture products.

Eighty percent of these funds go to Landbank for the loans granted to farmers and fisherfolk, 10 percent go to CHEd for grant-in-aid programs for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and veterinary medicine education while the remaining 10 percent are given to SUCs for research.

During the hearing, Landbank First Vice President Emillie Tamayo updated the committee regarding the status of ACEF funds it has so far received under the new law.

One of Tamayo’s slides showed that P4.16 billion was transferred from the DA.

This piqued Villar.

“Wala nang dadaan sa DA kasi pag dumaan sa DA, lalong gumugulo. That is the intent of the law. I do not understand why it is being transferred through the DA,” said Villar, chair of the committee and proponent of the new ACEF law.

“It will not pass through the DA. That is the intent of the law. I wrote the law. Why is it coming from DA?” she added.

She also cited complaints from beneficiaries of the scholarship under ACEF, saying that they have yet to receive their diplomas because the full amount of their tuition fees remains unpaid.

“Noon, dumadaan pa sa DA. ‘Yung DA ayaw ibigay sa CHEd, so ang daming scholars na hanggang ngayon ‘di pa nakakakuha ng diploma kasi ‘di pa nababayaran ‘yung kanilang tuition fee,” Villar went on.

“Hanggang ngayon, maraming pang sumuluat sa akin na hindi pa nababayaran yung kanilang sholarship,” she added.

Villar said this was one of the reasons why legislators decided not to allow ACEF funds to pass through the DA.

“Nung kami mag-renew ng batas, mag-reenact. Tinanggal yung dadaan pa sa DA. Diretso na sa CHEd. Para CHEd na lang ang kausap at wala naman reason na hindi bayaran ng CHEd yung mga scholarship ng mga students,” the senator said.

She also noted that when the DA was tasked to handle ACEF funds under the old law, over P7 billion in “bad loans” were accumulated.

“Noon kasi ang nagi-implement is yung committee of Congress and DA, parang binigay sa kanila P13 billion, P8 billion napa-loan nila and then nung buksan namin yung loan portfolio, ang nagbayad lang seven percent,” Villar said.

ACEF collections

BTr Director III for Research Service Robert Mariano told the Senate agriculture panel that ACEF collections amounted to P4.9 billion from 2016 to the first quarter of 2020.

Villar reminded the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), represented by the agency’s chief budget and management specialist, that ACEF funds should no longer pass through the DA.

“You tell [DBM Secretary Wendel] Avisado to change that. It should not pass through DA, nagtataka ako. It should not be that way,” she said.

“Hanggang ngayon sumulat ang mga bata hanggang ngayon hindi nababayaran ang tuition nila. My God! Sabihin mo kay DBM secretary [na] ang intent of the law, the money will go straight to Landbank, to CHED. Walang dadaaan sa DA. Because the DA lost the money,” she added.

Before the hearing was suspended, the BTr, the DBM and the DA assured the committee that they would coordinate with each other to rectify the issue regarding the transfer of ACEF funds.

JE