DAP check on Leni

Department of Transportation and Communications and P78 million by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), both of which came from DAP.

From 7 September 2012 to 26 March 2014, the PFDA allocated P275 million to the projects from DAP. But the PFDA has only used P78,615,270 or the budget’s 27 percent before the Supreme Court (SC) declared the unconstitutionality of DAP in 2014.

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Out of the P78 million, P64 million has been released to Calabanga fish port — P50 million for the construction of the port and a five-toner ice plant while the P14 million was intended for the repair and improvement of breakwater.


Pamalakaya said that Robredo, along with PFDA and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, should be held accountable for the misused and unspent funds.

Substandard project

The Commission on Audit noted that although the project got only the 23.3 percent of the total DAP, almost half of it was released to PFDA and went to the fish port project.

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Despite this, the project has not been totally finished and no report on the allocated budget has ever been made.


Apart from these, Calabanga Mayor Eduardo Severino said that the fish port is substandard.

It was even former President Benigno Aquino III who inaugurated the fish port.

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In a media announcement then, the project supposedly seeks to benefit not just local fisher folks but also fish brokers or forwarders, construction suppliers and the local populace.

The construction of the facility was supervised by the PFDA to address the numerous hitches affecting the fishermen especially concerning handling and distribution of fish and fishery products.


This is also meant to preserve the catch and at the same time retain their quality until after its disposal.

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The project aims to sustain the growth momentum of the local fishing industry and translate this growth into investments and jobs, according to the press statement.

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This article first appeared on Tribune.net.