None other than the Agriculture undersecretary on operations absolved Secretary Arthur Yap over accusations that the agency is embroiled into another scam, over fertilizer again.
Undersecretary Emmanuel Parras belied the claims alleged by a national daily columnist that another fertilizer scam is in the brew and it involves Chinese Filipino businessmen and fertilizer dealers accordingly favored by Yap.
Parras initially clarified that Yap came after the controversial fertilizer scam and could not be involved in it.
In fact in a letter sent to Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Neal Cruz, Secretary Yap equivocally denied any part in any of the fertilizer transaction investigated by Senator Ramon Magsaysay in the 13th Congress and by Senator Richard Gordon in the 14th Congress.
Moreover, he also stressed during the telephone interview with DyTR that it is unlikely for the Department of Agriculture (DA) to be involved in the alleged fertilizer scam when there is a government procurement process being followed and that the department is not having any hand in getting its supplies and materials now.
Speaking in the vernacular through a radio interview, Parras, who used to be with the National Irrigation Administration said that the DA under Yap is not even giving out fertilizers but discount coupons.
In the same letter to Cruz dated March 9, Yap reiterated that under his watch, the fertilizer support program of the Department of Agriculture now involves mere distribution of Fertilizer Discount Coupons to farmers, through master-lists provided by Municipal Agriculture Officials.
"Farmers choose what organic or inorganic fertilizers they want and just get discounts for their purchases by using the coupons we are handing out to them in coordination with local government units. The DA no longer procures the fertilizer or dictates the fertilizer brands they have to use," Yap said.
We have laws and so we can't really say we have favored suppliers, Parras also added.
Just as the DA rebuttal came, many hint that the columnist's bone of contention could be provoked by instigation from Bohol.
The subject article also questioned why DA Sec. Yap is always visible in Bohol, especially in the third congressional district where he is rumored to run.
Parras also added that Yap is named the cabinet steward for the Administration's Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP), where the DA is actively implementing agri-related infrastructure and organic fertilizer production programs.
Over the observation that Tap is often in Bohol, he said "my visits to Bohol must also not be injected with political color because my extra work in Bohol and in Region 2 are on account of my recent designation as the Cabinet Steward for the President's Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program or CLEEP in these areas.
Former Congressman Eladio Jala, speaking also in an interview with DyTR said he thanks Sec. Yap for bringing in projects to the district now represented by his son, Adam Relson. - Rey Chiu, PIA
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