Worms pork favorite in tainted projects

Congressmen tagged in a Commission on Audit (COA) report as having misused their pork barrel, officially known as priority development assistance funds (PDAF), denied any wrongdoing, insisting that the taxes that went to their pet projects were put to good use, on earthworms mostly.

The COA report said even the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), an agency that was supposed to look after the welfare of impoverished Muslim communities, was not spared from the misuse of PDAF with projects being carried out by bogus organizations nominated by congressmen.

Statements made by some of the congressmen reveal a common denominator in the projects—they involved mostly earthworms.

Eduardo Gullas, former Cebu representative who had bequeathed his position to his grandson in dynasty politics common in many areas, said all his pork that went to NCMF had been accounted for.

The livelihood projects that were funded with taxes and credited to Gullas, according to the former congressman, “were properly implemented.”

Gullas had been identified in the COA report as one of at least 47 congressmen who caused the release of taxes to dubious organizations.

According to Gullas, the taxes that he had released to organizations accredited by the NCMF were spent on worthy projects like growing worms for organic farming.

The other programs, he said, were also life-changing like training people on the process of making rice cakes with cheese, making chocolates and making glutinous cakes made of rice flour locally known as “palitaw.”

Gullas, whose term ended in 2013, said his constituents in Cebu’s first district “continually reaped the fruits of the programs I implemented.”

His seat in the House is currently occupied by his grandson, Gerard Anthony “Samsam” Gullas.

The elder Gullas said projects that he endorsed to the NCMF were “legitimate, fully accounted for and undertaken by government-accredited NGOs.”

In Zamboanga City, two former congressmen who had also been tagged in the COA report defended their projects, some involving earthworms, too.

“We welcome whatever investigation (sic) and we can assure the projects were properly implemented,” said Erico Basilio Fabian, former second district representative of Zamboanga City.

Fabian said the pork project that NCMF implemented on his behalf involved vermiculture, or earthworm growing, and organic farming.

Maria Isabelle Salazar, former first district representative and now mayor of Zamboanga City, said she had believed that the NCMF had screened the NGOs that got her pork.

“On our part as legislators, we subscribed to the PDAF procedures in fund utilization, and as representatives, we ensured firm implementation of all projects,” Salazar said in a text message.

Fabian and Salazar, according to the COA report, released P24 million and P15 million to allegedly bogus organizations.

In Fabian’s case, Coprahan at Gulayan Foundation Inc. had been identified as one of the foundations that provided organic farming and vermiculture training programs to the office of the city agriculturist’s office in July 2013.

Mehol Sadain, NCMF commissioner, said Ruth Allen Ruste, Fabian’s ex-chief of staff, was also behind the BL Personal Touch Foundation, which was also used by Fabian for his other pork projects. Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao and Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas