Workers at the Tadeco banana plantation (Photo from the Tadeco website)
MANILA — The Commission on Audit has called for criminal action against former officials of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Corrections who approved the long-term use of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm land by Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo’s banana company.
In its June 29 annual audit report, COA reiterated the joint venture agreement with the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. (Tadeco) was unconstitutional and illegal, as previously stated in an April 25 audit observation memorandum.
It said “public officials involved in the BuCor-Tadeco” agreement may be prosecuted for violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for causing undue injury to the government and giving unwarranted benefits to a private party.
COA listed the violations as follows:
* The 5,308.36-hectare landholding exceeded the 1,000-ha ceiling set by the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions, and the 1,024-ha cap by the 1935 charter, on the lease of land to private corporations.
* The deal, which was first struck in 1969 and renewed in 2003 through a JVA lasting until 2029, violated the 1987 Constitution’s 50-year limit on the use of public lands by private corporations;
* The agreement covered inalienable “reserved lands” that are “beyond the commerce of man,” and;
* The selection of Tadeco did not go through public auction as required by Section 26 of Commonwealth Act No. 141, or the Public Land Act.
Thus, COA said the BuCor management should not only take the appropriate action to nullify the 1969 and 2003 agreements, but also “initiate the filing of criminal action before the Office of the Ombudsman for the patent violation of laws and the Constitution.”
Without mentioning names, COA stated that “the act of the BuCor and DOJ officials…amounts to giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference… and constitute[s] manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”
The independent constitutional body was prompted to scrutinize the deals after House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez filed a graft complaint against Davao del Norte 2nd Dist. Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. and initiated a congressional inquiry in March.
Floirendo’s family owns the Tagum Agricultural Development Corp., one of the world’s largest banana producers. He was the top financier of Duterte’s presidential bid, shelling out a total of P75 million, or a fifth of the P376.01-million campaign kitty.
At the time of the assailed 2003 deal, Floirendo was already serving his second term as district representative.
Davao penal colony’s defense
The audit report also revealed the DPPF management initially defended the agreement as aboveboard before the COA.
Acting Superintendent Gerardo Padilla told COA in a May 5 memorandum that BuCor and Tadeco jointly administer the land precisely because the agreement was not for a lease, but for a joint venture agreement.
For Padilla, the JVA set-up does not violate the constitutional limits on the use of public land by private corporations.
“Besides, it is worthy to note that said agreement… was approved by the Department of Justice itself and, in fact, said undertaking was personally signed by none other than the former Undersecretary of the Department of Justice (particularly assigned to oversee the Bureau of Corrections) in 2003,” the penitentiary chief reasoned out. He was referring to then-Undersecretary Ramon Liwag.
Yet, BuCor Director-General Benjamin De Los Santos in a May 31 letter adopted the position of the DoJ, which, like COA, declared the deal unconstitutional in an April 27 letter to Alvarez.
De Los Santos stated his endorsement “effectively supersedes and replaces their prior submission on the matter.” SFM