Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 28) — The Department of Agriculture has created Agriculture Dialogue and Information Network Groups or ADING to ensure graft-free use of funds intended for agri-fishery programs.
“This is our response to the call of President Rodrigo Duterte to provide transparency and integrity in all government interventions,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said in a statement on Thursday.
Dar explained that ADING is a “systematic and institutional system” that will allow the DA to monitor and evaluate its policies and programs being implemented in order to ensure that these are implemented effectively.
This will also serve as the department’s eyes and ears for immediate feedback on how these initiatives affected its stakeholders, including agri-preneurs, and farming and fishing communities, Dar said.
These integrity circles will be composed of “volunteer” representatives from farmers’ and fishers’ cooperatives and associations, rural youth and women, civil society, local government units, agribusiness industry, academe, and designated DA officials.
The DA said that they will be mainly involved in the implementation and monitoring of programs, procurement process, community dialogues, and other participatory mechanisms from the national to the municipal levels.
To support the system, the DA also designated six DA officials under Special Order No. 420, series of 2020 as Agriculture Development Cluster Officers who will oversee an assigned cluster: Usec. Waldo Cardio (Central and North Luzon); Asec. William Medrano and Asec. Lerey Panes (South Luzon); Asec. Hansel Didulo (Visayas); Usec. Evelyn Laviña (Eastern Mindanao); and Usec. Zamzamin Ampatuan (Western Mindanao)
These officials will deal with inter-regional issues based on tactical approaches in determining food supply situations in their clusters and give an immediate solution to issues they would face, Dar said. Furthermore, he said they will also serve as focal persons in the implementation and monitoring of the department’s programs and activities.
“In all, we aim to remove that ugly specter of corruption that for a long time has tainted the image of the DA and other government agencies,” Dar said. “The public can rest assure that in times like these, interventions and services should swiftly and efficiently reach intended beneficiaries.”
