THE camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay urged the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority to maximize the use of P6.6 million worth of equipment for analysis of fertilizer and pesticide samples to help farmers and provide them timely data on pesticide safety and environmental protection.
Office of the Vice President media affairs chief spokesperson Joey Salgado said a Commission on Audit report revealed that farmers paid laboratories P880,540 for analysis of pesticide products in 2014.
“Had our government made the most out of our pesticide analysis equipment, we could have lowered the cost of the analysis to help our farmers defray some costs,” Salgado said in a statement.
He also noted that a six-year delay in the completion of the laboratory for pesticide analysis due to budget constraint and failure in the bidding process.
“The FPA failed to immediately generate relevant information to ensure public health, safety, and environmental protection in the use of pesticides through analysis of pesticide products,” he said.
He said there is a need to assist farmers in pesticide analysis by providing this service at a lower cost.
“A Binay administration wants to strengthen the agricultural sector to ensure food security in the country. We want all Filipinos to have sufficient food to eat. Helping the farmers in every way we can is imperative in attaining food security,” he said.
Citing the COA report, Salgado said the FPA could have earned “additional income that would ultimately go to the government treasury had the pesticide laboratory facility been fully operational” in 2009.
Also due to the delay in the establishment of the pesticide laboratory, COA reported “the equipment and accessories for evaluation and analysis for pesticide worth P5,510,604.00 which have been tested to be operational were not fully utilized, while those worth P1,119,246.00 were left idle as of year-end.”
The laboratory for both fertilizer and pesticide analysis was supposed to be installed in 2009 but only the laboratory for fertilizer analysis was finished in 2011 while the improvement of the laboratory for pesticide analysis was “left behind due to budget constraint,” COA said.
In 2012, FPA asked the Department of Budget and Management for P1 million for the extension or renovation of the existing FPA Laboratory.
FPA conducted biddings in August and September 2013, but both failed due to disqualification of the bidders.
On October 17, 2014, a notice of award was issued to Reygem Builders, and FPA signed the contract on December 29, 2014 “making it impossible to implement the project,” the COA said.