Quedancor has P1.4 billion in unliquidated fund; exec 'gone'

(Update) MANILA, Philippines - Officials from Quedancor (Quedan and Rural Credit Corp.), a government-owned and –controlled corporation (GOCC) that guarantees credit for farmers and hog-raisers, on Wednesday admitted irregularities in their multi-billion peso swine program as its president is nowhere to be found. In Q-TV’s News on Q, reporter Maki Pulido reported that this was after the Commission on Audit discovered that P1.4 billion of the P2.5-billion fund that the company released for the swine industry remains unliquidated as of present. “We don’t know if this amounted to only 50 million, or 100 million. At the end of the day, we’ll know," said Agriculture undersecretary Bernie Fontevilla on the alleged irregularities. CoA also reported that four companies – Iloilo Feeds Corp., Nueva Foods Corp., BIRKS Agri-Livestock and ACL Corp. – have cornered the Quedancor deal even if they don’t have enough capital. News on Q also reported that these irregularities are the basis for the graft cases filed against Quedancor’s former president Nelson Buenaflor, who is currently on leave and is nowhere to be found. The CoA report also revealed that some of the companies have the same investors and officials. For example, it noted that one Mary Ann O Ng was listed as treasurer of Iloilo Feeds but was found out to be also the major stockbroker of Nueva Food Corps, where she is designated president and chief executive officer. One Vicente Cualoping, meanwhile, was a member of the board of directors of BIRKS and ACL Corp. Despite these irregularities, Fontevilla also said it is “not correct" to compare the swine program scam to the fertilizer scam. Lawyer Harry Roque, meanwhile, noted that the swine program was implemented after Quedancor was transferred under the Office of the President from the Department of Agriculture. He said Malacañang has a lot of explaining to do. “Hindi puwedeng hindi alam ng presidente kung ano nangyayari sa Quedancor dahil siya mismo ang nagpatakbo nito (It is impossible for the president to have no knowledge at the operations of Quedancor because she’s the one who was running it)," Roque said. - GMANews.TV