P10 billion still left in Marcos funds

About P10 billion — not P5 billion — remains out of the P27 billion in recovered Marcos funds for use in the government’s comprehensive agrarian reform program (CARP), the Department of Agrarian Reform said yesterday.

Agrarian Reform Undersecretary for Finance and Management Jeffrey Galan said that half of the P10 billion was currently being used for various projects like farm-to-market roads, bridges, and irrigation facilities, among other things.

"Some of those projects are still ongoing and we have to set aside funds for them to ensure their smooth implementation," he said.

"It is not true that the Marcos funds for CARP are all but gone. The money is still there, but is earmarked for those projects."

Galan said since the P27-billion Marcos fund was made available in November 2003, some P22 billion had been released to cover the cost of CARP implementation.

"There is no big deal about the Marcos assets as these have been properly accounted for," he said.

About P13.11 billion was ordered released in 2004 and the P8.89 billion in 2005, he added.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman told The STAR in an interview that the expenditures for agrarian reform had all been accounted for and documented.

"That issue has already been resolved (and) clarified," he said.

"The figures have already been reconciled long ago and have been in fact already submitted to (the Senate). They are just jumbling the issue again."

Pangandaman said P5 billion had been allotted for the CARP this year, and that at least P10 billion was still left from that amount.

It is Congress which approves the yearly appropriation for the CARP, he said.

"The appropriation of that P5 billion was approved by Congress. However, based on releases there are still at least P18 billion more for the CARP, if we would include the P8 billion for the human rights victims.

"People have to understand the difference between the figure that was based on the approved appropriation and the figure that was based on releases by the DBM."

Pangandaman said there were years that not all the approved appropriation was released by the Department of Budget and Management, causing the balance to accumulate.

"But we had reconciled the figures a long time ago with the DBM and (Department of) Finance," he said.

The DAR had allocated a P15-billion budget for the CARP this year to meet its target land coverage for 2006.

It aims to recover and distribute some 130,000 hectares of agricultural land this year.

On the other hand, Galan said the government needs more funds for CARP, as the program requires an estimated P100 billion to cover its land acquisition and distribution program, as well as the provision of much-needed support services.

"Considering the huge budget requirement needed to ensure CARP’s success, the Marcos fund is nothing but a crumb," he said.

Meanwhile, the militant farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) yesterday demanded that the DAR publish the actual physical land distribution to farmers to justify how the P35 billion in Marcos funds was spent.

"We have asked the DAR to give us a list of specifics on the actual physical land distribution in provinces and barrios where farmers have reportedly benefited from CARP," said Ka Willy Marbella, internal deputy secretary general of KMP, in a phone interview with reporters.

"As of now, they have yet to give us any list. What kind of land distribution are they talking about then?"

Marbella said that, as far as they can remember, no farmer has ever benefited from the CARP since the government got hold of the Marcos wealth in 2004.

"Maybe they are afraid to come out with a list because in reality, no farmer has yet to benefit from CARP since the Marcos wealth was turned over to the government," he said.

"Show us, the farmers and the public, where the money really went. That money was stolen once by Marcos, and now it has been stolen again."— Katherine Adraneda, Sandy Araneta