Another DA agency linked to pork scam

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala. FILE PHOTO

Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup, a contact of Janet Lim-Napoles in the Department of Agriculture (DA) during the Arroyo administration, allegedly continued to channel pork barrel funds under the Aquino administration to dubious nongovernment organizations (NGOs) through another state farm agency.

A DA source, who refused to be named for fear of reprisal, said Salacup  last year engineered the transfer of P200 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala who, in turn, coursed it to the National Agricultural and  Fishery Council (NAFC).

The NAFC is a DA subsidiary where Salacup served as Alcala’s “supervising officer” on top of NAFC Executive Director Ariel Cayanan, a nominee of the influential Iglesia Ni Cristo religious sect.

The DA source said Salacup suggested the NAFC as the conduit for pork releases to NGOs in the face of tightening regulations on PDAF disbursements following claims that fake foundations were siphoning pork barrel funds to ghost projects.

Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon said earlier that Salacup was the manager of the DA’s Organic Agriculture Program, which distributed roughly P100 million in DA funds to NGOs, including two entities associated with the Napoles ring of fake foundations, endorsed by senators, representatives and mayors from 2011 to 2012.

Napoles, who is under detention, has been charged with plunder in connection with an alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam. She is the alleged mastermind of the racket that diverted state funds meant to ease rural poverty and the plight of typhoon victims to ghost projects and kickbacks.

Salacup was also the president of ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp. (ZREC) that served as a  conduit for P291 million in pork barrel released to fake NGOs, mostly owned by Napoles, according to the Commission on Audit (COA), which reviewed PDAF releases from 2007 to 2009.

In his testimony during a recent Senate inquiry, Salacup claimed that he was “fooled” into releasing the funds to the Napoles NGOs because he relied largely on official documents submitted by the lawmakers and NGOs to facilitate the release of the funds.

Pork barrel scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy, in a previous interview, said Napoles’ contact at ZREC was its treasurer, Ophelia Agawin, the DA accountant who was charged and acquitted in the P432-million fertilizer fund scam in 2003.

Agawin was promoted to assistant secretary by Alcala last year. Both have been charged with plunder in a case filed by Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.

The COA last month ordered Alcala to stop using NAFC as an implementer of PDAF projects because it was outside the scope of the council’s jurisdiction.

Alcala did not reply to the Inquirer’s request for comment on this story.

In the 2012 annual audit report on the NAFC last month, the COA said Alcala obtained P199.4 million from the PDAF (released through 20 special allotment release orders) from the Department of Budget and Management for various livelihood projects.

Alcala, in turn, transferred the funds to the NAFC, the implementing agency tasked to coordinate with the legislators who would choose the project sites and the NGOs to implement the projects.

Between March and November last year, the NAFC released P116.752 million of the PDAF allocation through several lawmakers and several NGOs that it did not identify.

Beyond NAFC mandate

While the COA did not say whether the releases were liquidated or whether the NGOs were legitimate, it scored the DA for tapping the NAFC as an implementing agency for livelihood projects, which was beyond its scope of operations.

“The mandate of the NAFC was on policy formulation, monitoring, consultations and coordination with the agriculture and fisheries sectors. Hence, it can be surmised that the NAFC acted beyond its mandate and functions,” said the COA.

The DA’s classified list of accredited NGOs include the Napoles NGOs Kabuhayan at Kalusugan Alay sa Masa Foundation Inc., Gabay at Pag-Asa ng Masa Foundation  Inc., Kaupdanan para sa mga Mangunguma Foundation Inc., Kasangga sa Magandang Bukas Foundation Inc., and Isa Akong Magsasaka Foundation Inc.

Alcala himself is facing charges in the Office of the Ombudsman for disbursing P3.5 million of his pork barrel funds as then Quezon representative in 2008 to a dubious NGO,  Sir Pelagio Alcantara Development  Foundation Inc.