BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO – Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. has adopted the recommendation of the fact-finding committee he created early this year to look into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the province’s Rice Development Program.
Provincial Agriculturist Ildefonso Toledo and the province’s Rice Development Program coordinator Carmelo Oren face investigation for simple neglect of duty and grave misconduct, respectively.
The fact-finding committee led by Defensor’s executive assistant, Atty. Suzette Mamon discovered that Toledo and Oren failed to account for the sackloads of rice seeds and fertilizers for distribution to farmers.
Defensor will be forming a body to conduct a formal inquiry, said Atty. Dennis Ventilacion, provincial legal officer. It will receive evidences against Toledo and Oren.
Ventilacion did not give any timeline on when Defensor will issue the executive order forming the investigative body and when the probe will commence.
He also said the governor may or may not preventively suspend Toledo and Oren during the period of investigation, depending on his assessment of the gravity of the complaints against Toledo and Oren.
Mamon’s fact-finding committee noted discrepancies in the Provincial Agriculture Office’s records on the Rice Development Program, specifically on the number of bags of rice seeds and fertilizers purchased and those distributed to farmers.
According to Mamon, this failure to account constituted administrative liability.
Toledo had insisted there were no irregularities in the implementation of the Rice Development Program.
In a previous interview, he said rice seeds and fertilizers reached their intended farmer-beneficiaries. But he admitted there may be errors in the documentation, resulting to discrepancies that Mamon’s fact-finding committee had observed.
Oren has also denied any irregularity in the Rice Development Program.
The reported unaccounted 30 sacks of fertilizers – out of the 150 total bags procured in 2011 worth P219,300 – were used in the Rice Demonstration Farm Art Center in Brgy. Nanga, Pototan town, Oren claimed.
The capitol-run farm is a “model” in integrated farming.
As to the alleged unaccounted fertilizers and herbicides, Oren said these (worth a total of P322,102.50) were stored at the Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center (WESVIARC) in Brgy. Hamungaya, Jaro, Iloilo City.
Regarding another set of fertilizers – 100 bags of Urea, 50 bags of T14 amounting to P219,300 – procured in 2011, Oren said the stocks were also at WESVIARC.
The fact-finding committee had said only 120 bags of these were distributed.
As to the bags of high-quality palay seeds brought in 2012 for P1,257,550, Oren said these were also distributed.
The fact-finding committee claimed that of the 933 bags of seeds procured, only 873 were distributed, and 60 bags were unaccounted.
Oren said 873 were distributed (with master list) to identified farmer-beneficiaries.
He, however, admitted that the rest did not have master lists of beneficiaries because the recipients were non-farmer beneficiaries. He said they were capitol employees who were also farmers, and the regional agriculture office that at times would ask for rice seeds if it ran out of stocks).
Oren admitted that at times, Requisition Issue Slips were not issued during releases. But he had a ready explanation for this. Sometimes, he said, the province would provide the regional agriculture office with stocks. Some rice seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides were also released as incentives to farmers.
Toledo admitted he may have become too trusting of Oren.
He confirmed not bothering to double check documents related to the Rice Development Program, and specifically the distribution of rice seeds and fertilizers to farmers./PN
