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A case of another scam?
Pamalakaya asked Gloria: “What happened to 632,000 bags of rice seeds under Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) program in 2007?

The fisherfolk activist group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday asked Malacañang and the Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary Arthur Yap what happened to the 632,000 bags of rice seeds that the government had intended to distribute for 2006 and 2007 under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) program.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said Malacañang and DA were supposed to hand out 407,000 bags of seed of hybrid rice and another 225,000 bags of certified rice seeds to farmers amounting to P 4.2B that was aimed to increase rice, corn and fisheries productivity since last year.

“If my memory serves me right, sometime in September 2006, Malacañang and the agriculture department set aside more than four billion pesos in taxpayers’ money for the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani project that seeks to gain a dramatic increase in rice, corn and fish production in 2007 in preparation for 2008 supply,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“The national rice crisis and the now the shortage of corn in Cebu are really puzzling both the producers and consumers as to why these terrible situations have become a day-to-day ordeal for them despite the fact that Mrs. Arroyo and her gang have set aside billions of pesos for procurement of rice and corn seeds,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap said under the GMA project, aside from hybrid seeds and certified seeds, the government should have also distributed should have handed out 26, 700 bags of hybrid corn and 32, 500 kilograms of assorted seeds and 4.78 million pieces of planting materials last year.

Hicap also said under the program, the government should have set aside from 170 million tilapia and 150 million milkfish fingerlings and broodstock last year. Part of the package will include the establishment of 137 seaweed nurseries, 39 central and satellite hatcheries nationwide.

“These unthinkable and mind-boggling allocations of taxpayers’ money were not really accounted. It seems to us that the allocations were made not to address the food needs of the people but to fund the election campaign of Arroyo’s candidates in the May 2007 national elections. The funds were released few weeks before the election period that begun in February last year,” the Pamalakaya leader recalled.

The fisheries program under the GMA project also envisioned the construction and rehabilitation of 8 regional and 7 municipal fish ports, 2 ice plants and cold storages and establishment of new mariculture parks in addition to 28 existing sites across the country.

“Something fishy went on. It seems to us that the government was only up for seed and fingerling scam last year to support the candidacy of Mrs. Arroyo’s most favored bets in the last May 2007 elections” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya said the release of P 4.2 B seed fund was timed at least one to two-months ahead of last year’s campaign period, which started on February 13, 2007 up to May 14, 2007. “The amount for GMA seed program is six to seven times bigger than the P 728 million fertilizer scam engineered by the ruling syndicate in Malacañang,” the group said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:52 | link | comments |

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