The farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, SINAG, according to Arianne Merez of ABS-CBN News (Monday, 30 June 2020), had “alleged that the DA bought overpriced fertilizers… and that “the DA could have saved P2.5 million if it bought fertilizer for the commercial price of P850 a bag instead of P990.”
That would have been infuriating, were it not for the fact that it was funny! Because SINAG went fishing at low tide when they should have gone fishing at high tide (see image above from WorldFish[1]). Not being fishers? No catch!
This is the 2nd time I am writing about the alleged overprice of urea fertilizers bought by the Department of Agriculture, DA. The first time, this is what I wrote (“PH Fertilizer Purchase: “We Saved P2.2 Billion” – Secretary Of Agriculture William Dar[2],” 15 June 2020, THiNK Journalism, Digital):
On Wednesday, 10 June 2020, Inquirer.net ran the report by Gabriel Pabico Lalu, “Farmers Claim Fertilizers Given As Part Of COVID-19 Aid Are Overpriced.” Mr Lalu quoted farmers William Laureta of Tarlac and Ernesto Agustin Domingo of Nueva Ecija as saying that the Department of Agriculture, DA, bought 1.811 million bags of urea fertilizer for a total cost of P1.8 million at P1,000/bag. The farmers claimed that the retail price of urea was only P850/bag, or a total overprice of P271 million.
Now note: The farmers’ groups could not even agree how much the DA could have saved if the fertilizers were not “overpriced” – P2.5 million (SINAG) and P271 million (Tarlac & Nueva Ecija farmers). It is obvious to me they don’t have all the facts in! The 2 farmers’ groups were fishing in 2 different waters.
That is what happens when tillers of the soil try their hands at a skill they are not adept at: fishing!
In any case, our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has stomped his feet and said, “No irregularities in the DA purchase of urea fertilizers[3],” as reported by Arianne Merez (30 June 2020, ABS-CBN News):
President Rodrigo Duterte reported to Congress on Monday that there were no irregularities in the Department of Agriculture's purchase of urea fertilizers as the Senate prepares to investigate claims of overpricing from farmers' groups.
There could not have been overpricing because the bidding was open. Duterte said:
As to the alleged overpricing in the procurement of urea fertilizer, the DA has reported that the centralized fertilizer bidding (was) above board, transparent, and (had) in fact brought urea prices down.
In my earlier essay, I said:
Secretary of Agriculture William Dar says, in a memorandum to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, thru Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, that in fact the DA bought 5.69 million bags of urea at P1,000/bag and, by my (FAH’s) computation, saved the government at least P2.2 Billion!
How can you overprice a commodity by P2.5 million (SINAG), by P271 million (Tarlac & Nueva Ecija farmers), and at the same time save by P2.2 billion (DA)?
Crazy!@517
[1]http://pubs.iclarm.net/resource_centre/2014-47.pdf
[2]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/06/ph-fertilizer-purchase-we-saved-p22.html
[3]https://news.abs-cbn.com/amp/news/06/30/20/duterte-to-congress-no-irregularities-in-da-fertilizer-deal?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR0P_F1QEGGn32BstknSZj9KrOVLBad71lr_Sc4HkkpalTCmgrVawCulxSU
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