BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Provincial Legal Office (PLO) of Negros Occidental will cooperate with the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 6 in its investigation into the disappearance of 789 bags of fertilizer from the Negros First Rice Processing Center (NFRPC) in Barangay Tabunan, Bago City.
PLO head Atty. Alberto Nellas Jr. said they will join DA-6’s investigation to find additional information that could help solve the matter.
Two personnel of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) are persons of interest – Hermenegildo Basilio and Joy Cardinal.
Nellas also revealed that the two employees named another senior OPA employee in their written statements, but he pointed out that they do not have any affidavits or supporting evidence to support their claim.
Earlier, Engr. Albert Barrogo, DA-6 Regional Technical Director for Operations, emphasized the importance of a thorough investigation to identify the true culprits and ensure that the innocent parties are not implicated.
On Oct. 18, 2022 the municipality of Cauayan reported that they were not able to withdraw the fertilizers allotted to them at the NFRPC since there were no more fertilizers left.
The subsequent inventory count would reveal that 789 bags of the abovementioned fertilizers with an established value of P2,367,000 were missing.
The two OPA employees were probed as they were both stationed and were in-charge of the warehouse.
There were a total of 4,000 bags of fertilizers allocated by the DA to Negros Occidental to aid farmers affected by Super Typhoon “Odette”./PN
