Alcala wants ‘fixers’ arrested on the spot

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala directed local officials to immediately arrest unscrupulous persons trying to “sell” department-funded projects to local government units.

Alcala warned the officials against these “fixers” amid reports reaching his office that they had been going to the provinces and cities and offering to broker projects under the Department of Agriculture’s budget.

The practice of some people with connections to the bureaucracy and who make money by facilitating government projects for local officials providing documentary requirements is not tolerated under the Aquino administration, Alcala stressed in a press conference here on Saturday.

“All government projects, including farm-to-market roads, now have a corresponding template. In the template form, there are spaces to filled up, say, how many hectares covered, number of farmers-beneficiaries, what product will be favored by the road construction, thereafter, the evaluation of the project will come,” Alcala explained.

If there are people offering to facilitate projects without the template, he said, it must be a “drawing.”

“Arrest them and hang them upside down,” he told media practitioners.

Alcala was here to attend two business conferences in Camarines Sur.