Probe of agri fund sought

The ad hoc task force on the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) is urging Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. to conduct a probe on the reported P350-million discrepancy in the tariff collections of the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Treasury (BTr).

This as some members of the task force expressed mounting frustration at the DA’s " token efforts" to accelerate efforts to release money for projects submitted for funding under ACEF.

Task force chairman Pete C. Borja noted in a memorandum sent to Lorenzo, that the BOC reported its ACEF collections totaled P2.35 billion since the fund was created in 1996.

However, this figure does not jibe with the records of the BTr which showed that it has credited a total of P2.7 billion ACEF proceeds.

Moreover, the task force pointed out an even bigger discrepancy of P741 million based on the issuance of minimum access volume import certificates (MAVIC) as of December last year.

MAVIC is required from importers before they are permitted to ship into the country commodities considered as "sensitive."

"There must be a concerted effort to reconcile the figures of the MAV secretariat and the BOC to determine the actual collection figures and regularly update the ACEF account," Borja noted in the memorandum.

The ACEF was created out of the tariff proceeds of the minimum access volume (MAV) importations and its aim was to provide funds to make local agricultural producers globally-competitive. MAV is the minimum volume of specific agricultural products committed by members of the World Trade Organization that are allowed entry in their respective countries. The tariff collections are done by the BOC.

The task force, composed of the committee on food crops under the National Agricultural and Fishery Council (NAFC), an attached agency of the DA stressed the urgency of reconciling the figures and allocating the funds for agricultural projects.

"Once the ACEF expires in 2005, the entire fund will be reverted back to the General Fund. This means that projects meant to increase the local agriculture producers‚ global competitiveness will not be realized," said Borja.

The task force added it was "very disappointed with the sputtering approval of ACEF funds on few programs/projects of the NAFC sectoral committees."

The task force also scored the DA for the slow release of ACEF money.

As of end-March this year, the BTr credited a total of P2.668 billion ACEF proceeds to Special Account 183. Of this amount however, only about P906.62 million has been released by the Department of Budget and Management.