Aquino wanted graft-tainted state firm abolished years ago—Lacierda

President Aquino, as senator way back in the the Congress, had questioned the continued operation of Zamboanga del Norte College Rubber Estates Corp. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—At least one of the state firms abused by fake nongovernment organizations to purloin pork barrel funds should have been abolished years ago if then Sen. Benigno Aquino III had his way.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that President Aquino, as a senator in the 14th Congress, questioned the continued operation of Zamboanga del Norte College Rubber Estates Corp. (ZREC) when it should have been dissolved for being a big drain on government resources.

“Why is it still alive up to now?” Lacierda asked in a briefing in Malacañang.

In a 2011 report by the Commission on Audit (COA), the Department of Agriculture initiated a revamp of ZREC with Assistant Agriculture Secretary Allan Q. Umali designated as president and Assistant Secretary Ophelia Agawin as treasurer.

Umali replaced former ZREC president Salvador Salacup, who has remained as assistant agriculture secretary despite being personally responsible for the transfer of the pork funds to ZREC.

Agawin was the accountant in the first fertilizer scam during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and was suspended by Aquino for allowing fake NGOs to continue their access to pork funds through the Department of Agriculture’s accreditation system.

In December 2009, then Senator Aquino voted to reject the P1.54-trillion budget of the Arroyo administration for 2010 mainly because it perpetuated the illicit practice of using ZREC and National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor) as conduits for senators and representatives to monetize their Priority Development Assistance Fund based on COA findings.

In his speech, then Senator Aquino questioned the P340 million in the PDAF allocated by the government to ZREC in 2008.

He questioned why the Arroyo administration was allocating P340 million in 2008 to a corporation that had been recommended for dissolution since December 2003.

The agriculture department claimed that it had not received any notice from the Department of Finance that ZREC was being dissolved.

“Why and how could have funds been allocated to a corporation subject for dissolution? Since we are talking about P340 million of the taxpayers’ money, we cannot simply dismiss suspicions of duplicity and corruption,” said then Senator Aquino.

He also wondered why the fertilizer scam mastermind, former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante, was allowed to head the agency.

Then Senator Aquino also noted that the Department of Agriculture transferred a total of almost P2 billion to Nabcor in 2008 despite red flags raised by the COA.