Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 15) — The Commission on Audit (COA) questioned the Department of Agriculture (DA) over corn-farmer beneficiaries not found in the database for fuel discount cards.
In its latest report on the DA, the COA said over 25,000 farmers who received fuel discount cards were not enrolled in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Management Information System (ABEMIS) as required under a memorandum circular.
This is to ensure that the beneficiaries of fuel discount cards own machinery for corn production such as tractors and pumps among others.
“The inclusion of the 25,161 corn farmers in the masterlist submitted to the DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines) for the issuance of fuel discount cards but not found in the ABEMIS file maintained by the BAFE (Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering) casts doubt on the accuracy of the masterlist and whether said farmer-beneficiaries own farm machinery,” auditors said.
Records show the highest number of corn farmer beneficiaries not found in the database are from Regions 1 (Ilocos) and 2 (Cagayan), both with over 7.000.
In their comment, DA management explained some of the names were onboarded even without a corresponding ABEMIS number to expedite the process.
The audit team agreed that the fuel discount cards should be provided to beneficiaries on time to relieve them from surging fuel prices.
However, they also reminded the DA that rules and regulations should still be strictly followed.
Undistributed bags of seeds
Auditors also questioned the DA over bags of seeds that it failed to distribute over the past four years under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
The audit revealed that the DA had failed to reach its target to distribute 13.9 million bags of certified seeds as 855,493 bags remained undistributed as of end of 2022.
Out of this number, over 14,000 were found to be damaged and can no longer be used.
The allocation of seeds aims to improve the quality and availability of certified inbred rice seeds.
