A huge slab of the P5-billion swine project
of the Quedan and Rural Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) went to the
pockets of the state agency’s employees in the form of salary
loans while swine growers managed to get measly sums.
Two top officials of Quedancor disclosed
before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee yesterday that almost 60
percent of the project’s funds were loaned out to Quedancor
employees as part of its lending program.
Nelson Buenaflor, Quedancor president, said
P2.66 billion went to the in-house salary loan program, 30
percent went to the credit window for small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) and only 10 percent for the farmers, who were
the original beneficiaries of the swine program.
Leticia Santos, Quedancor senior
vice-president for finance, initially had a mental relapse in
remembering the exact breakdown of the swine funds.
She said she could only disclose in general
terms on how the funds were distributed among the beneficiaries
but not the specifics.
Blue Ribbon chair Alan Peter Cayetano
castigated Santos for having "selective amnesia"
"You mean you borrowed P5 billion (and) you
cannot even remember what it was for? I borrowed P1,000 from my
mother and I remember what it’s for," Cayetano said.
Santos relented by saying that indeed "a
bulk" of the swine funds went to the salary loans of Quedancor
employees.
She also confirmed that 30 percent went to
SMEs and 10 percent went to swine farmers.
Cayetano said the swine farmers were used as
the "face" of the project but only 10 percent of the funds was
allotted to them.
He said Quedancor decidedly slashed the
allocation of swine raisers and padded the amount for the salary
loans of its employees and for the lending facility of SMEs to
make the loan package attractive to banks like Land Bank of the
Philippines and Equitable PCI-Bank.
"Kasi kapag 100 percent sa farmers, hindi
pauutangin ng mga bangko (ang Quedancor)," he said.
Cayetano said Quedancor should have instead
put up a credit facility for farmers who will directly apply for
a loan in a partner bank and buy the swine and fertilizer inputs
directly.
He also said only four suppliers for the
swine project participated in the program, which was unusual.
"We have information that in some areas isa
lang ang supplier. They have a lot of explaining to do," he
said.
Sen. Jamby Madrigal said contrary to the
denial of Jose Nograles, president of Philippine Deposit
Insurance Corp. (PDIC) and former LandBank senior
vice-president, the latter was directly involved in the
packaging of the P5 billion loan of Quedancor.
Madrigal cited as "smoking gun" a letter to
Quedancor dated March 1, 2004 both signed by Nograles as
LandBank representative and Norberto Ong, ONL Consultants
president, jointly endorsing an offer to "structure, advise,
arrange long-term funding" involving the amount of P5 billion.
The letter bears both the logo of LandBank
and ONL Consultants, which was the chosen arranger of the loan.
LandBank appears to be the co-arranger of the loan package and
at the same time as the funder.
Madrigal said the letter indicates that
LandBank’s Nograles and ONL were acting as one in proposing to
"arrange" the loan package for Quedancor.
"Sindikato ito at unethical and not common
practice," she said.
She added: "It’s very obvious Nograles group
pushed for the arranger’s fee."
But Gilda Pico, LandBank president, said
there was no conflict of interest in the move of the state-owned
bank to act as co-arranger with ONL in packaging the P5 billion
loan.
"There’s no conflict of interest… As
arranger, you can look for a funder or fund it yourself," Pico
said in an interview after the hearing.
Pico, however, stressed there was no formal
tie-up with ONL Consultants.
"They were already in discussion with
Quedancor when we entered the picture," she said.
Nograles, according to Madrigal, had pocketed the P114.6
million from the P5-billion "GMA Cares Swine Program" as his
arranger fee. – Dennis Gadil
