Palace: Nothing to hide on agri fund

Malacañang said yesterday that it has nothing to hide regarding appropriations for the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) in response to allegations raised by Sen. Panfilo Lacson that P131 billion might have been used by President Arroyo as her pork barrel fund.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza denied the claims of Lacson and said that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap was ready to explain all the details of the AFMA funds before Congress.

“Yap said that at any given time they are ready for a full report of AFMA funds from 2001 to the present,” Dureza said. 

The Senate is currently hearing the proposed P1.415-trillion national budget for 2009 and the process involves looking into the appropriations for every department and how these have been used in previous years.

Lacson claimed that the AFMA funds have accumulated to over P131 billion since 2002, since no project has been identified for financing under the fund.

He said that the funds are carried under the office of the agriculture secretary and that since there are no projects identified for financing under the AFMA, these could become discretionary funds of Yap or the President. – Marvin Sy