The billions of unused funds by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in 2020 were crucial to the struggling farmers and fisherfolks in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and economic crises, a fishers' group said on Wednesday, Aug. 18.

Citing the study of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas on the 2020 Commission on Audit (COA) report, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) revealed that at least P9.8 billion or 17 percent of DA's total P59.1 billion budget was "unused and returned to the National Treasury."

COA has flagged DA for "billions of unspent funds and accounting irregularities."

In COA's report on DA's operations and financial highlights in 2020, it was revealed that P34.45 billion worth of DA's fund lacked "complete accounting records" and had "accounting errors/omissions."

In a statement, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson Fernando Hicap said the unspent funds "could have addressed the worsening plight of rural sectors enduring the onslaught of the pandemic."

"The budget is very crucial to the rural sectors especially this was the year when aside from the government's burdening pandemic response, natural calamities including typhoons devastated fishing and farming communities," Hicap stressed.

Hicap said, "farmers and fishers bear the brunt of the government's neglect as they have limited to no access to health services and production subsidies."

"The DA owes it to the farmers and fishers to explain irregularities of the budget supposedly for the welfare of our food producers. This is tantamount to state abandonment of the country's food security frontliners," he added.

PAMALAKAYA lauded the COA for carrying out its mandate of monitoring and auditing funds of government agencies involved in the pandemic response.

“The irregularities on funds revealed by the COA manifests the Duterte government’s legacy of bureaucratic corruption. This signifies that we really can't trust a superbly corrupt administration to properly use public funds in the face of a widespread suffering and misery of the people brought about by the pandemic. We support our state auditors on its anti-corruption drive and hope that they would continue to monitor and audit unscrupulous government agencies for the sake of national interest and transparency."