DBM: We’ve released ₧1.44B for Acef to DA
THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has refuted the claim of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) that it has yet to release remaining funds under Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (Acef).
Contrary to FFF’S claim, DBM Director Cristina B. Clasara said they have already released the P1.44-billion credit fund allocation under Acef in 2019 to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“Per our record and as confirmed by DA, they received the 2019 and 2020 allocation for credit of P1.440 billion for each year,” Clasara said in a message to Businessmirror.
“I saw the article, but if you noticed none was mentioned for the 2019 release. We also released P1.44 billion in 2019. I hope this clarifies the issue of FFF,” she added. She also said the budget department currently has no pending request received for Acef.
According to Clasara, there are only three eligible expenditures for Acef fund: credit, scholarship and research and development.
As for the scholarship allocation under Acef, Clasara said they still have an unreleased amount of P128 million since P51.8 million was already released.
The unreleased amount for scholarship earmarked under Acef, Clasara explained, was because they have not received a request so far from DA “maybe because of the change in school calendar.”
In a statement last Friday, FFF claimed that the budget department “has yet to release remaining Acef funds despite repeated and urgent requests.”
The farmers’ group earlier said the
Acef had a fund balance of P5.15 billion as of May 2018, of which the allocation for credit amounted to P4.12 billion.
It said DBM already released P1.28 billion for the Land Bank of the Philippines’s credit program in 2018 and remitted a second tranche of P1.44 billion early this year, leaving a balance of P1.4 billion.
Under Republic Act 10848 or the law signed by former President Benigno S. Aquino III that extended Acef’s implementation, 80 percent of the Acef fund shall be earmarked for credit to farmers and fisherfolk associations and cooperatives and micro and small-scale enterprises; and 10 percent each shall be allotted as grants for research and development and for funding of grantin-aid program for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary medicine education.
To recall, the Acef was created in 1996 under Republic Act 8178 or Agricultural Tariffication Act. Acef is a pool of funds consisting mainly of duties and taxes collected from the imports of various agricultural and fishery products, except rice, covered under the minimum access volume mechanism.
It was aimed at financially supporting farmers, fisherfolk and agri-fishery entrepreneurs to enhance their productivity and competitiveness at local export markets.
The fund was supposed to expire in 2007 but it was extended by Republic Act 9496 in 2008 and by Republic Act 10848 in 2015.
In 2011, the implementation of Acef was suspended after officials saw irregularities with the program. More than a year after its suspension, the government resumed extending loans through Acef.