P104M in Quedancor funds missing, COA reports

The Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) has so far failed to account for P104.5 million from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF), prompting concerns from the Commission on Audit (COA) that the money could have been misused.

In its 2011 report on the Quedancor, the COA also found unauthorized expenses charged to the fund, including cellcard and fuel allowances.

The ACEF is intended to help the agricultural and fisheries sectors become globally competitive. The government provided Quedancor with a P1-billion ACEF special loan fund to be lent out to farmers and fisherfolk throughout the country.

The COA said Quedancor had only accounted for P895.5 million of the ACEF fund.

“Failure to account for the P104.5-million loan funds might indicate misuse of government funds,” the audit agency said.

It also said Quedancor failed to submit a terminal report on the project when it ended in 2010.

In its response to the COA, Quedancor said it was in the process of accounting for the borrowers of the P104.5 million and determining the status of the collection. It said it was already completing the terminal and liquidation report.

According to the COA, the records on the program’s implementation were not made readily available, making it impossible to verify the use of the funds.

It said it also found that the agency has not returned the fund to the Department of Agriculture after the program was completed in 2010, as required in the memorandum of agreement.

The COA also said that the expenses of the Quedancor program management committee continued to be charged to the ACEF special fund even after the termination of the program.

Among the expenses charged were cellcard allocations, travel expenses, fuel consumption, other operating expenses and the salaries of the ACEF national technical secretariat and of two Quedancor employees.