SP member raps Antique Governor
P5-M farm input fund did not reach farmers
A member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in the province of Antique filed graft charges against Salvacion Z. Perez, governor of the Province of Antique and chair of non-government organization Antique Development Foundation (ADF), and its seven officers over the anomalous use of the P5 million Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Farm Input Fund in year 2004.
Board Member J. Tobias M. Javier, in his complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas in Cebu City, claimed that Governor Perez and the officers of ADF, namely, Dioleto Guerra, Aser Baladjay, Eliseo Canalin, Maritess Tanchuan, Rhodora Pon-an, Eva Alera, and Joey Pon-an defrauded the government of funds “by grossly misrepresenting ADF as a legally existing foundation allowed by law to receive the GMA Farm Input Fund when in truth and in fact, ADF had no legal existence and corporate personality at all when it received said fund in 2004.”
Javier said that based on the records of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the certificate of registration of ADF was revoked on August 20, 2003 and such Order of Revocation was only lifted on March 8, 2006.
In other words, ADF was legally non-existent in 2004 thus could not have been recipient of the P5 million GMA Farm Input Fund.
Javier further claimed that using the said fund, ADF purchased foliar fertilizers at a “highly exorbitant price which is grossly disadvantageous to the government.”
Citing a Commission on Audit (COA) report he has obtained, Javier disclosed that ADF purchased only 2,000 liters of liquid foliar fertilizer branded as “Florida Green” at P1,250 per liter for a total of P2.5 million. Javier said, per independent canvass done by COA auditors, the price should have been P100 per liter only or a total of P200,000 for 2,000 liters of foliar fertilizer.
Javier also said that the COA report reveals that per ADF's liquidation of the P5 million GMA Farm Input Fund it only reported on the P2.5 million purchase of foliar fertilizer but did not liquidate the remaining P2.5 million even up to this time.
Javier further claimed that ADF officials falsified entries in the documents pertinent to the disposal of the foliar fertilizers.
To support his claim, Javier included in his complaint the affidavit of Ms. Stella Marie Jungco, former employee of ADF.
In her affidavit, Jungco narrated how she together with other ADF staff were directed by Rhodora Pon-an to get some names in random from the training documents/forms and attendance sheets of various People's Organizations (PO) and forge/copy their signatures making it appear that those randomly selected individual members of the POs actually received fertilizers from ADF.
Jungco also disclosed that sometime in 2007 when they were clearing the stockroom at ADF office, she found stacks of carton boxes containing bottles of foliar fertilizers.
Javier specifically charged Perez and the ADF officials with violating pertinent provisions of RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), RA 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) and the Revised Penal Code in relation to par. 2 sec. 22 of RA 6770 (The Ombudsman Act of 1989).