DA’s ‘classified’ list full of bogus NGOs

No wonder Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala had described as “classified” the list of accredited nongovernment organizations (NGOs) allowed to receive pork barrel funds for livelihood under the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The list, it turned out, is riddled with fake foundations, three of them affiliated with detained businesswoman and alleged pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles, with another NGO reportedly put up by a member of the so-called Quezon mafia, associates and kin from Alcala’s home province who have cornered juicy posts at the DA.

“The existence of fake NGOs on the DA’s list clearly shows that Alcala maintained the corrupt structure inside the (agency),” said Antonio Flores, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) secretary general, of the list that the Inquirer had been requesting from Alcala’s office since July. The former Quezon representative, however, ignored the Inquirer request.

The KMP official said the biggest irregularity on the list was the inclusion of Isa Akong Magsasaka Foundation Inc., an NGO controlled by Arnulfo Mañalac who, the KMP official claimed, served as Alcala’s administrator for the Sariaya Bagsakan Center in 2007.

Flores said the Commission on Elections denied party-list accreditation to Mañalac’s NGO in the 2013 elections.

“It  is high-time to purge the DA (of) bogus NGOs and hold Alcala and his gang accountable for plunder,” Flores said, adding that “Alcala and his gang (should) step down, submit to an independent investigation, and be (held) accountable for plunder.”

The KMP provided the Inquirer with the confidential NGO list as of Aug. 28 this year, which showed that the DA continued to endorse three Napoles NGOs as official recipients of agency funds, despite the public outrage over the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF, also known as pork barrel).

The three foundations used by Napoles in the P10-billion pork barrel scam were identified as the Kabuhayan at Kalusugan Alay sa Masa Foundation Inc. (KKAMFI);  Gabay at Pag-Asa ng Masa Foundation  Inc. (GPMFI), and the Kaupdanan Para sa mga Mangunguma Foundation Inc. (KPMFI).

The Commission on Audit (COA) special audit on the PDAF used from 2007 to 2009  showed  that a total of P526.679 million was funneled to the  KKAMFI, with the National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), the Technology  Resource Center, and the National Livelihood Development Corp. used as implementing agencies.  The COA audit also showed that P108.15 million went to the GPMFI while the KPMFI obtained P83 million in pork funds from the DA last year.

Livelihood booklets

Another NGO tagged in the COA report, Kasangga sa Magandang Bukas Foundation Inc. (KMBFI), was also on the DA list.

KMBFI, which used up P56.551 million in pork funds for eight projects through Nabcor, was among the fake NGOs that used the overpriced and useless livelihood booklets printed by C.C. Barredo Publishing House that, according to reports, booked P541.72 million in sales to fake NGOs from 2007 to 2009.

The other dubious NGOs on the list were identified as the Maharlikang Lipi Foundation Inc., Livedures Foundation Inc., and Kaakbay Buhay Foundation Inc.

“Given the magnitude of the scam, the  plunder would not have happened without the knowledge and consent of Alcala and his mafia,” Flores said.

According to Flores, accrediting NGOs was the responsibility of DA Undersecretary for finance and administration Antonio Fleta, who was earlier criticized for signing a memorandum of agreement with local government units that funneled P100 million worth of DA funds to fake NGOs last year.

Not suspended

Fleta worked with assistant secretaries Ophelia Agawin, the accountant in the fertilizer scam, and Salvador Salacup, the former head of the ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp. Agawin and Salacup were among those charged with plunder and malversation in the Napoles scam, but both have yet to be suspended or asked to go on leave by Alcala.

Aside from Fleta and Mañalac, Flores named the other members of the “Quezon mafia” as: DA Assistant Secretary Ed de Luna;  Philippine Coconut Authority Administrator and Alcala legal consultant Euclides G. Forbes; Claro Maranan of the National Irrigation Administration;  Alcala’s former congressional chief of staff and National Food Administrator Roland Calayag;  Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic  Resources director Asis Perez; Bureau of Plant Industry director Lito Baron; Philippine Fishing Development Authority director Rodrigo Jimenez, and Agri Technical Insititute director Nicomedes Eleazar.

A source said Fleta, De Luna, Forbes, Maranan and Mañalac are longtime associates of Alcala from his political bailiwick, Quezon, while Perez, Baron, Eleazar and Maranan are related to the DA chief by blood or affinity.

Flores said Alcala had also endorsed his former congressional chief of staff, Claron R. Alcantara, as general manager of the Human Settlement Development Corp.  In 2008, Alcantara and the former Quezon representative were charged in the Ombudsman for disbursing P3.5 million in pork barrel funds to a dubious NGO, the Alcantara family-run Sir Pelagio Alcantara Development (Spade) Foundation Inc.