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Pamalakaya wants Congress oversight committee
to monitor disbursement of P 664 million to drought stricken areas
The left-leaning fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday urged the oversight committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives to monitor the disbursement of P 644 million released by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to support farmlands in Luzon affected by the dry spell.

“The Senate and the House of Representatives oversight committees are politically, constitutionally and morally obliged to monitor the disbursement of P 644 million to avoid the repeat of the P 728 million fertilizer fund scam in 2004. Transparency here is a must,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

At the meeting of the National Anti-Poverty Commission yesterday in Malacañang, President Arroyo said P 264 million would be spent in Regions 1 to 3 composed of Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon, P 250 million in Regions 4-A and 5 composed of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon and the Bicol Region and P 150 million in livestock support to affected areas.

Of the P 264 million allocated for Regions 1-3, P 28 million will go cloud-seeding operations, P 63 million for hybrid corns including expenses for fertilizer, P 13 million for assorted vegetable seeds and P 10 million for the construction of some 140 shallow tube wells in Regions 1 and 2.

Another 150 million pesos will be spent on seeds to be planted on areas where irrigation had been restored, including 65,000 hectares of lands in Visayas and Mindanao identified to offset the drop or complete loss of rice production particularly in Regions 1 and 3.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap made the pitch for close monitoring of government funds after a group of anti-corruption watchdog said big time graft was on the rise under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
Vincent Lazatin, executive director o Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN) said the shred of secrecy surrounding high-level government contracts has led to the rise of grander and more lucrative corrupt practices under the Arroyo government.

“We have to be extra vigilant here given the track record of the Arroyo administration, having been involved in big crimes of corruption since 2001, including but not limited to the P 728 million fertilizer fund scam in 2004,” the militant leader said.

Pamalakaya said the P 644 million released by the Malacañang to address the dry spell is way below the needed funds to address the drought and the reported destruction of crops. The militant group cited the case of Isabela province in Cagayan Valley region where the dry spell brought P 260-million in total damages to crops.

“In Isabela, more than 40,000 hectares of land devoted to corn were damaged because of heat, but the Cagayan Valley region will only receive one third of the P 264 million allotted for three regions. How much will the province of Isabela receive under this set up? The damage has reached P 260 million mark and that is only Isabela, how about the other provinces of the region?” the group said.

“How about the affected provinces of Central Luzon and Northern Luzon and Ilocos Region? The budget is too small compared to the needed support funds,” Pamalakaya added. The militant group said the government should initially allocate funds between P 15 B to P 20 B to address the immediate concerns of farmers and agricultural workers, as well as the needed technical support to cushion the impact of dry spell.

Pamalakaya said the budget will come from the audit-free funds under the Office of the President and from stashed budget for debt servicing, military and government controlled and owned corporations (GOCCs). #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 01:58 | link | comments |

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