Statement of DA Sec. Manny Piñol on Claims
That SAAD Funds Are Used in Daughter’s Bid
Politics foul up Agri Programs!
SAAD PROGRAM STARTED 2016;
30 POOR PROVINCES COVERED
Over the last few days, programmed media releases quoting a so-called Farmers Association have accused me of using funds of a program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) called Special Area for Agricultural Development to advance the candidacy of my daughter, Dr. Maria Krista Piñol-Solis for a seat in the Provincial Board in North Cotabato.
The media propaganda also alleges that my siblings, who are running for different political positions in the province, also benefit from the use of the funds.
This is nothing but political black propaganda and one does not need for be an NBI investigator to know that the so-called farmers group is allied with a Labor Party List whose nominee is related to the political powers of my province who used to be my adversaries in politics.
This is the same group who in 2016 rebuffed the efforts of then Presidential Candidate Rody Duterte to help farmers who were staging a rally in Kidapawan City to ask for rice from government in the face of the effects of El Niño.
This group accused then Mayor Duterte donating rice to the rallyists to promote his Presidential bid. That rally ended with two farmers shot and killed by policemen.
But let’s set the political agenda aside and consider the facts:
1. The SAAD Program, which is my brainchild, targets 10 Poorest Provinces in the Philippines every year and were identified as beneficiaries of projects aimed at reducing poverty, including livelihood projects.
2. The target of the SAAD program Is to reduce poverty by 25% in all the 60 provinces to be covered in the six years of the Duterte Presidency.
3. The SAAD Program was launched in 2016 using savings from the previous administration and today it has a budget of over P1.2-B for 2019.
4. In just two years since its implementation, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has already identified the SAAD, along with the Easy Access Credit Program of the DA, as government projects with huge impact on poverty alleviation and productivity.
5. North Cotabato, my home province, was included in the first 10 provinces to be included in the SAAD Program. Please take note, this was 2016. At the time, the Poverty Incidence Per Family (PIPF) of North Cotabato was 49%. It is now ranked No. 15 among the 20 Poorest Provinces with a PIPF of 48.9%.
It was worse when I became Governor in 1998 at 52% but effective anti-poverty and livelihood programs reduced it drastically to only 29% in 2010.
How the poverty level deteriorated from 29% in 2010 to 48.9% today could be an interesting study on the root causes of rural poverty.
The SAAD Program is implemented in close coordination with the provincial governments and Saranggani Province is a model in this partnership.
In spite of the fact that the Governor of North Cotabato was my political adversary, I instructed the SAAD Program Implementors to coordinate with the Provincial Government.
A Memorandum of Agreement was signed where the Provincial Government was tasked with identifying and implementing livelihood and anti-poverty projects which would be funded by the DA.
An initial amount of P50-M was allocated for North Cotabato to be released in two tranches. However, two years after the release of the first P25-M, the project was not implemented and auditing rules provide that the DA could not release the second tranche unless the first P25-M was liquidated.
When the SAAD Program Implementors reminded the provincial government that the funds had to be disbursed, the Provincial Administrator brashly told them: “You wait! We did not ask for this money anyway.”
As a result, the DA ended the relationship with the provincial government of North Cotabato and implemented the program by administration.
The SAAD Program in North Cotabato under the management of a project management staff of the DA is now one of the most outstanding programs In all of the 30 Provinces where SAAD is being implemented.
Common sense will dictate that if I planned to use SAAD for political purposes in North Cotabato, I would not have given it to the Provincial Governor who was my political adversary.
Had the Provincial Government implemented the SAAD Program efficiently, it would still be managing the program.
This disproves the allegation that the SAAD Program in North Cotabato is being implemented to promote the candidacy of my daughter and siblings.
This is the real and true story.
In spite of their attacks on me in an attempt to discredit me, I will not be drawn into a political feud with them. I am done with politics.
All that I would like to do is to lift my province from the ignominious club of the Poorest Provinces in the country because I feel it is a slap on my face as Secretary of Agriculture whose agricultural advocacy is Poverty Alleviation and Greater Food Production.
Finally, here is my message to my detractors: “Sa inyo ibinigay ang SAAD Program, binastos ninyo. Ngayon na nakikita nyo na nagustuhan ng mga tao, sasabihin nyo na namumulitika ako.”
#StopCrabMentality!
#ThisIsForThePeopleNotPolitics!
(Photo downloaded from SAAD website)
