THE CAPITOL in Negros Occidental is figuratively “ablaze” due to the infamous “abono fiasco”. Over 700 bags of inorganic fertilizers worth P2.3M disappeared.
The controversy “forced” Gov. Bong Lacson to publicly acknowledge the mess and look for fund to settle it, else both the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Region 6 and the Commission on Audit (COA) will be compelled to file administrative or criminal charges against some capitol executives.
On the other hand, a probe by the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) seems to be “beating around the bush”. It only centered on two personnel of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) – one a regular employee and the other a job hire.
How about the bodega watchmen? Where are they now? Where’s their logbook?
INCREDIBLE, STRESSFUL
Sans the watchmen and their logbook in the course of the PLO investigation, the “abono fiasco” is becoming incredible thus stressful.
Amid the brouhaha, Provincial Agriculturist Edmund Raul Causing resigned from his post. The governor said Causing was, most likely, stressed by the issue.
Having a heart problem, Causing, said the governor, won’t allow his health to be compromised.
The DA-6, in its (June 19, 2023) letter, requested Gov. Bong for possible solutions on how to replace the missing fertilizers, and be delivered to the farmer-beneficiaries in four localities.
The governor said he’ll look for sources of funds to conclude the fiasco. “We will source funds to have our own fertilizer distribution with the local government units (LGUs) affected by these missing fertilizers as recipients.”
The missing fertilizers were intended for high-value crops (HVC) farmers in Kabankalan City, Cauayan town and Bago City in the south, and Cadiz City in the north affected by Typhoon “Odette”.
Lately, in a press conference at the capitol, Provincial Attorney Alberto Nellas Jr. said the two OPA employees being investigated mentioned the name who supposedly ordered the hauling of fertilizers out of OPA’s bodega in Barangay Tabunan, Bago City.
“Based on their answers,” Nellas told media, “they pointed to one senior OPA employee. However, it was just a mere statement without any affidavit or supporting evidence from fellow OPA employees.”
Therefore, the provincial attorney explained, “In the absence of evidence that can substantiate their claim, we will just treat it as self-serving.”
Oh, why? Isn’t it enough to legally explore a much wider probe? Why not subject this senior OPA official to the same probe? By the way, who is he or she?
WATCHMEN’S ‘BIBLE’
In sum, can Nellas bring the watchmen to Gov. Bong Lacson and let them speak the truth?
It’s impossible that the OPA bodega has no watchmen. And it’s “beyond impossible” to believe that the watchmen have no logbook for the “in-and-out” of people and things within the bodega. That logbook is the watchmen’s “bible”.
The more the probe drags without the guards, the more Negrosanons suspect there must be something fishy.
DA-6’s donated fertilizers went missing from OPA’s bodega. If this is not robbery, what is?
Considering the volume or number of bags of fertilizers, hauling them out of the bodega must have been a concerted effort.
Who orchestrated-slash-ordered the nicking?
May the innocents be vindicated. And may the real “syndicates” be unmasked soonest./PN
