CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Fishermen in Masantol, Pampanga, who claimed to have been fraudulently listed as recipients of an emergency agricultural aid funded by proceeds from the Malampaya gas project in Palawan in 2009, have urged authorities to help them establish the background of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that ran the project.
Teody Salarda, former village council member of Bagang, said representatives of the Kaupdanan para sa Mangunguma Foundation Inc. (KMFI) should surface and answer for dragging Masantol fishermen in the controversy.
“We are poor but we value our honor. We should be removed from the list. We don’t owe the government any money,” Salarda said.
Former Masantol Vice Mayor Marcelo Lacap Jr. said this was also the sense of the 30 fishermen who went to see him on Monday.
The KMFI implemented the Farming Yield Emergency Contingency Project of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in December 2009, according to a July 13, 2012, letter by Director Susan Garcia of the Commission on Audit’s Special Audits Office.
An online search showed KMFI was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, with office address in Las Piñas, Metro Manila. The Inquirer, however, could not reach any of its representatives to air their views on the issue.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes on Monday did not return calls or reply to text messages asking for background information about KMFI.
The sectoral performance audit became public as Garcia, through the letter, asked the recipients to confirm if they received an agricultural input package worth P35,781 and if the signatures in an attached list of beneficiaries were theirs.
The package included heavy-duty sprayer, organized container, agricultural paraphernalia, gloves, various seeds and seedlings.
Several fishermen interviewed by the Inquirer last week said they did not receive any of these materials from either the DAR or KMFI.
They said their signatures were forged or were different from the signatures they use.
“They wanted to find out if [KMFI] is bogus or legitimate. I’m inclined to think it is bogus because NGOs who work in our communities take time consulting and coordinating with residents before actually implementing a project. They involved people at every step of the way,” Lacap told the Inquirer by telephone. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon