De los Reyes says execs, not him, approve DAR fund releases

Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio “Gil” delos Reyes. PHOTO FROM GOV.PH

MANILA, Philippines – Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes on Monday dismissed insinuations that he allowed the “anomalous disbursement” of public funds under his agency, saying that officials under him were the ones approving requests and releasing funds.

“Sila ang gumawa ng aksyon kung pwede bang matulungan; nasa budget ba ito at kung saan manggagaling yung pera at paano ang labas? Yun po ang aking involvement, na i-channel sa kanila yung request,” he told Radyo Inquirer 990AM.

(They [other DAR officials] are the ones who decide if a request may be granted, if it is within the budget, where the money will come from and how it will be released? My involvement is to channel the request to concerned offices.)

This was De los Reyes in response to former Undersecretary Narciso Nieto, who said it was impossible that the DAR Secretary was not involved if there were indeed anomalies in the agency.

“Everybody knows that the secretary and his people are the most powerful officials in the department. Nothing happens in his department, especially multimillion-peso fund releases, without his and his people’s consent,” Nieto earlier told Inquirer.

But De los Reyes said the various offices of DAR have their own budgets and the authority to release funds.

“Pwede nyang gawin yun nang hindi na nya sinasabi sa sekretaryo,” he said.

(He, the assigned official, can do that without informing the Secretary.)

Nieto was among those named in a November 8 memorandum to the President recommending legal action against those involved in the “anomalous disbursement” of P220 million in 2011. The fund was released to 13 NGOs, 10 of which were linked to alleged “pork barrel scam” mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, with the endorsement of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II.

Read: Senators Estrada, Honasan, 13 NGOs linked to DAR scam

De los Reyes also pointed out that he was the one who ordered the investigation on the release of government funds to dubious non-government organizations endorsed by some senators.

“Sinabi ko tingnan n’yo kung anong nangyari dyan. Ipapagawa ko ba iyon (kung may kinalaman ako)?” he asked.

(I said they should investigate. Would I do that if I were involved? )

De los Reyes said they looked into the agency’s expenditures in 2012, even before Napoles was accused of creating bogus NGOs and paying off lawmakers with kickbacks from government projects.

He said their support services office proceeded with the inquiry as part of its job.

“Nung 2013, pumutok itong kay Janet Lim-Napoles, nag-full blown investigation tayo para malaman kung paano lumabas ito,” he added.

(In 2013, when the scam involving Janet Lim-Napoles was exposed, we started a full blown investigation to learn how the funds were approved for release.)

De los Reyes was appointed DAR Secretary in July 2010. Meanwhile, Nieto was a career official who retired in 2011 to run as mayor of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija. Nieto, who lost in the last elections, was also implicated in the P900-million Malampaya Fund scam.

Besides Nieto, other officials named in the DAR memo were Undersecretaries Jerry Pacturan and Felix Perry Villanueva; Directors Teresita Panlilio and Dominador Sison; chief cashier Nilda Baui; chief accountant Rowena Agbayani; and Ronald Venancio.

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