Innova bought with ex-solon’s pork

CEBU CITY—At least P7 million in public funds tagged as pork barrel of a former congressman here are not missing, but have been released directly to village chiefs, one of whom used part of the money to buy a Toyota Innova, a multipurpose vehicle.

Antonio Cuenco, former representative of the city’s south district who had his pork released for a project to breed hybrid goats, said he has a copy of a Special Allotment Release order (Saro) from the Department of Budget and Management showing that the P7 million has been realigned and given directly to the chiefs of 10 villages in the city’s south district.

Seeking to clarify his previous statement that the amount was used to buy vehicles for village chiefs, Cuenco said the money was equally distributed to the 10 villages. Officials of the 10 villages, he said, in turn used the money to buy mini-buses, trucks and other vehicles.

One village captain, George Rama of Barangay Basak Pardo, used P736,300 from the pork to buy a Toyota Innova, according to Cuenco. Since the vehicle cost more, Cuenco said the rest of the money used to buy the Innova was taken from the village’s funds.

The Office of the Ombudsman-

Visayas is investigating how P14.7 million in public funds, credited as Cuenco’s pork released in 2006, was spent but without projects to show for it.

Covered in the investigation is Eugenio Faelnar, former Guadalupe barangay chair and head of the Association of Barangay Councils and Wilfredo Gallardo, chair of the bids and awards committee of Barangay Guadalupe.

The funds, which were released through Faelnar as project implementor, were supposedly used to purchase hybrid goats (P7.6 million), rambutan, durian and mango seedlings (P6.2 million), goat house (P600,000) and farm equipment (P245,000).

The goat house, built by Win Construction in the mountain village of Taptap, now stands empty. Its wooden floors are intact but its railings had gathered rust and its roof is dotted with holes.

Faelnar earlier said he returned the P7.6 million to the Department of Agriculture that served as conduit for the projects, since he found the hybrid goats to be too expensive.

Cuenco told Inquirer that the request to purchase hybrid goats from Australia came from south district village chiefs who wanted to raise hybrid goats since these were bigger and yielded more offsprings than the local variety.

Initially, the barangay captains agreed that the goat house be built in Barangay Sudlon, which was in the middle of the south district.

But Cuenco claimed that Faelnar decided to build it in Barangay Taptap, which is in the north district.

He said he “blew his top” when he saw the goat house because it didn’t look like it cost P600,000. “I am not still in talking terms with Jing Jing (Faelnar) because of that,” he said.

He said he also called the DA office when he heard that the seedlings were overpriced but no one took his call.

Cuenco said he also wrote to DA, demanding that the P7.6 million be returned to the national treasury. The village chiefs, he said, later asked him that the money be given to them to purchase vehicles.

These are the chiefs of the villages of Basak Pardo, Bulacao, Inayawan, Kinasang-an, Labangon, Pahina San Nicolas, Punta Princesa, Quiot, Tisa and Mambaling.