COA probe drags House Justice Committee chair over ‘missing’ seedlings, farm inputs

By FLORENCE F. HIBIONADA
Senior Reporter, Philippine News Service (PNS)
June 9, 2011

ILOILO CITY, Philippines  –  Representative Niel Tupas Jr. (Fifth District, Iloilo) is among the numerous high-ranking government officials now subject of ongoing “government-wide special audit” by the country’s Senior State Auditors.

Conducted by a team from the Special Audits Office of the Commission on Audit (COA), focus is on the involvement of Tupas Jr. with a Government Owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCC) as conduit of his pork barrel.

Main evidence in COA’s hands are submitted “List of Beneficiaries” duly signed by the Ilonggo solon and stamped “Certified True Copy” from his office.

He is incidentally the current chair of the powerful House Committee on Justice.

Marked “Project of Cong. Niel “Junjun” C. Tupas Jr. for the 5th District of Iloilo under NABCOR,” stated were the supposed recipient-Local Government Units (LGUs).

NABCOR is the National Agribusiness Corporation, corporate arm of the DA and conduit of pork barrel funds to NGOs and POs.

Philippine News Service (PNS) obtained copies of two lists with specifics on farm inputs and grafted seedlings reported to have been delivered.

In the main column of “Barangays,” the list had a breakdown not of the barangay-beneficiary but of all 11 northern Iloilo towns in Tupas Jr.’s district.

Total figure on the two list alone reported of 3 water pumps for Ajuy and 2 hand tractors along with 296 pieces of grafted mango seedlings, 291 pieces of grafted calamansi seedlings, 242 pieces of grafted rambutan seedlings and 241 pieces of grafted jackfruit seedlings.

Balasan for its part have 3 water pumps, 2 hand tractors and the same number of grafted seedlings.

Barotac Viejo, the solon’s hometown, has 4 water pumps, 2 hand tractors and just about the same number of grafted seedlings.  Similar report for other Fifth District towns of Batad, Carles, Concepcion, Estancia, Lemery, San Dionisio, San Rafael and Sara, Iloilo.

COA’s Susan Garcia, Director IV sent an official query to all mayors concerned, a copy of the letter sent to Ajuy was secured by PNS. The letter was dated May 18, 2011 with an enclosed self-stamped envelope for convenient reply of the LGUs reached.

“A team from the Special Audits Office, this Commission…..is presently conducting a government-wide special performance audit on priority development programs and projects of the government implemented during Calendar Years 2007-2008.  These programs were, in most cases, implemented by non-government organizations (NGOs) / people’s organizations (POs),” the letter began.  “Records showed that the Municipality is one of the recipients of the water pumps, hand tractors and planting materials distributed between the period of July to August 2008 by Kabuhayan at Kalusugang Alay ng Masa Foundation Inc. one of the NGOs implementing priority programs of Cong. Niel Tupas Jr.  The team however, noted that the submitted list did not indicate the persons who received the items.”

COA then went ahead with its checklist of the recorded “NABCOR goods” supposedly awarded to Ajuy.

Independent check made by PNS with two of the mayors concerned said no such deliveries were made.  Same scenario, the two shared, when verified with other mayors in the district though PNS has yet to officially confirm the information.

With the special audit, NABCOR is once again back in the limelight as questions hang on the over P1.6 billion in unliquidated NABCOR funds uncovered by COA back in 2007.

In fact, Senator Loren Legarda then led the move for a Senate investigation in aid of legislation to uncover the surrounding circumstances regarding the DA and NABCOR as per COA’s adverse findings.