No corruption and overpricing in the Authorized Budget for the Contract (ABC) of the four-wheeled farm tractors distributed to farmer cooperatives and associations (FCAs) in the country, an executive of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) said.
PhilMech director Dr. Baldwin Jallorin said the dealwent through the right process for procurement- from market research to invitation to bid and the opening of bids.
The biddings, he said, were open to public viewing and streamed via the PHilMech Facebook page.
The mechanization program hogged the headlines after alleged irregularities, including overpricing, have been uncovered in the recent purchase of 1,346 units of the farm tractors.
Earlier, it was reported that Jallorina’s successor, Dr. Dionisio Alvindia, withhold the payment of the tractors after he found out that the price of one farm tractor with an approved contract price of P1.2 million has been jacked-up by P98,000.
The 1,346 tractors with a purchase price of P1.298 million each would have a total cost of P1.747 billion.
But Alvindia later clarified and pointed out there’s no problem with the P1.3 million per unit of tractor since the P98,000 is for the purchase of ‘hydraulic ports’.
“The adjustment in the technical specifications were recommended by the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE) as this would allow tractor-mounted auxiliaries to maximize the tractors’ range of use,” said Alvindia.
During the Senate committee hearing on Agriculture and agrarian reform, chairperson Sen. Cynthia A. Villar emphasized the legal intent of RA 11203 or the Rice Tarification Law (RTL) is to vest PHilMech and not the Department of Agriculture (DA) the mandate to be the procuring entity in the mechanization component of RA 11203.
“As such, the PhilMech Director is designated under the law as the “Head of the Procuring Entity” and, thus entitled to all the powers given to the Head of the Procuring Entity (HOPE) under the procurement law,” said Villar.
“We, however, are not alone in this interpretation,Jallorina sought the guidance and the Legal Opinion of the Solicitor General which rules that as a procuring entity, PhilMech’s agency head shall be its HOPE,” she added.
Aside from the distribution of tractors under Jallorina leadership, the RTL liberalized the entry of rice, which tariff proceeds are earmarked under RCEF, including the biggest bulk of P5 billion annually for the distribution of farm equipment and machinery.
Under Jallorina, PhilMech also accomplished 82.75 percent of their targets to FCAs.
This accomplishment translates to at least 1.35 million farmer-members of 5,314 FCAs and local government units (LGUs) benefiting in just three years of implementation from 2019 to 2021.
In a press conference last September 9, 2022, Alvindia retracted his previous statements about the irregularities, and emphasized that there is no overprice and corruption in the implementation of the PhilMech Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) mechanization program.
Alvindia, who assumed office last March 2022, asserted the laws were strictly followed in the procurement of tractors under the RCEF mechanization program.