A House panel today is set to initiate investigations on allegations that agrarian reform funds are being diverted for nonagrarian reform projects in Vinzons, Camarines Norte.
The House Committee on Agrarian Reform, prompted by House Resolution 951, is set to determine how private individuals were able to secure funding from the Department of Agrarian Reform-National Office for non-agrarian reform projects such as multipurpose stages, day care centers and two-lined canals.
Rep. Liwayway Vinzons-Chato of Camarines Norte, author of the resolution, said the projects were supposedly secured through the effort of certain Jay Ang and Agnes Diezmo Ang who have been verified to be both private citizens.
Vinzons-Chato said she received the reports, along with accompanying photos of the projects whose signage publicly announced the DAR-National Office was funding them.
“These public infrastructure are ostensibly not directly related to the requirements of the agrarian program or not among those traditionally regarded as agrarian support infrastructure or services,” Vinzons-Chato said.
The lawmaker said she wants to know how these private individuals were able to source from public funds and why DAR funds were used for projects not directly related to its mandate and functions.
Vinzons-Chato said a congressional inquiry is in order to determine how the DAR funds are being spent.
“While I have supported the law (R.A. 9700) extending the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program [CARP], the manner by which the Department on Agrarian Reform’s [DAR] funds are used should be scrutinized to determine if it is truly consistent with needs of the program beneficiaries,” Vinzons-Chato said. — Frank Lloyd Tiongson, Manila Times
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