A MINDANAO lawmaker, said to be the biggest campaign financier of President Rodrigo Duterte, is in danger of facing graft and plunder charges over allegations his banana exporting firm might be guilty of allegedly shortchanging the government on its profit-sharing scheme, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Thursday.
In a radio interview, Alvarez sought a congressional probe into the matter, and an audit of the export transactions made by banana firm Tagum Agricultural Development Inc. (Tadeco) owned by Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.
Floirendo is said to have contributed P75 million for President Duterte’s campaign last year, the biggest donor based on the Chief Executive’s report to the Commission on Elections.
“’I assure the public that Congress will look into the matter,” Alvarez said, in response to the Department of Justice plan to “revisit” the lease-property contract between the government and Tadeco allegedly for being unfavorable to the government.
“We will look at the export declaration; and if it jibes…if it does not, the government will be losing a lot. And if it is over P50 million, it is going to be plunder,” Alvarez stressed.
Alvarez also said Congress would also look into possible violations of anti-graft law committed by Floirendo.
“If the contract has been renewed when Floirendo was still a congressman, that is a clear violation of the anti-graft law,” Alvarez said, adding that public officials are barred from entering into contracts with the government.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II reportedly ordered a review of the 25-year lease contract that will lapse 12 years from now between the Bureau of Corrections and Tadeco after receiving complaints that the company’s annual payments —both lease and profit sharing—were reportedly only a fraction of the prevailing market rate.
Alvarez said his position against Floirendo showed the firm resolve of the Duterte administration to investigate even its allies.
Alvarez said he would also look into the veracity of the reports about the lease agreement where the government would get a guaranteed payment of P26.542 million per year for using the Davao Penal Colony’s 5,308 hectares of land, or P5,000 per hectare.
