“Receipts don’t lie.”
This was the response of a group of agriculture stakeholders after President Rodrigo Dutere declared the bidding for the alleged overpriced supply contracts of urea fertilizer as aboveboard.
“Farmers themselves have provided us with receipts. Retailers have also given us their outlet prices. How can the Department of Agriculture refute these? Receipts do not lie,” said Rosendo So, chairman of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG).
So appealed to the President to take a second hard look at the issue and to listen to the farmer-beneficiaries who have complained that the P1.8 billion in supply contracts awarded by the DA last month were overpriced.
“You cannot invent the retail price because we have receipts to back these up. The winning bids were higher by as much as P150 per bag,” he said.
“That would mean a difference of about P260 million, enough to buy at least 400,000 more bags of urea. During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, every peso counts, especially since the budget for these contracts comes from the government’s emergency COVID-19 response fund,” So added.
The Sinag leader pleaded President Duterte not to take the DA’s explanation as “gospel truth as the reality in the retail market shows that the DA’s P1,000 reference bid price per bag of urea fertilizer is too high and grossly disadvantageous to the government.”
The P1.8 billion supply contracts were bagged by La Filipina Uy Gongco for Central Luzon at P995 per bag, Calabarzon at P990 per bag and Western Visayas at P995 per bag; and Atlas Fertilizer for Central Visayas at P900 per bag.
Farmer groups said the average retail price of urea fertilizer in Central Luzon was only at P850.
In his report to Congress Monday, President Rodrigo Dutete ruled out any irregularities in the purchase of fertilizers.
“As to the alleged overpricing in the procurement of urea fertilizer, the DA has reported that the centralized fertilizer bidding is above board, transparent, and has in fact brought urea prices down,” the President said in his June 29 report.
“The DA has taken the necessary measures to enhance the system of fertilizer distribution, including geo tagging, posting of all recipients or beneficiaries, system digitization, and the institution of an integrity group (to monitor and observe),” Duterte said.
So said the President should consider that the DA was in a position to negotiate for a lower cost as it was buying in bulk, and directly from the importer.
“In fact, for retail stores, you go through the importer, the distributor, and the dealer until it reaches the retailer. And at every step there is additional cost, yet the retail price average is only P850. The DA went straight to the importer, but the price is P990 to P995 per bag. What kind of deal is that?” So said.
Several lawmakers in the House of Representatives have sought a joint inquiry of the Committees on Agriculture and Food and Good Government and Public Accountability on the questionable procurement.
A monitoring done by a farmers group showed that the average retail price of urea in the regions covered by the supply contracts were lower by as much as P150 per bag (Tarlac at P850 per bag, Nueva Ecija at P830 to P870 per bag and Iloilo at P880 per bag). Over at the Senate, Agriculture committee chairperson Senator Cynthia Villar said she is committed to investigate the alleged overpriced fertilizer supply contracts.