| Work Detail |
GOVERNMENT auditors have called the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to task over poor maintenance records on 57 expensive patrol vessels acquired in 2001 and 2009 from foreign grants and loans.
The first group in the investigation of the Commission on Audit (COA) included 14 Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS) patrol vessels funded by a P991.09 million loan from the Spanish banking institutions Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO) in 2001.
The second group involved 43 patrol vessels acquired in 2009 under BFAR’s Improving Enforcement Capability in Fishery and Coastal Resource Management program through a P96 million grant of the United States government’s Public Law 480, also known as the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act.
The 43 PL 480 boats were smaller and intended for distribution and turnover to various local government units for coastal monitoring patrols.
Of the 14 MCS vessels, only half were listed as “ready-for-sea (RFS)” by the BFAR’s Vessel Operation Center, which is tasked with the maintenance and operation of the bureau’s floating assets.
Five more are supposed to be scheduled for dry-docking and maintenance – if and when the agency finds money to spare for such activities.
Even of the seven that are at least operational, auditors found that some were operating practically blind.
“The MCS vessels in BFAR CO (Central Office) were reported as ready for sea despite non-operational auxiliary engines, machinery, navigational and communications equipment,” the audit team reported.
“The safety of the crew on board the MCS vessels at the high seas for the conduct of monitoring and surveillance operations may be compromised or at risk. Any distress signal cannot be received/sent as the VHF/UHF all-mode transceivers are not operational,” it added.
In the event that any of the seven operating boats should conk out, the remaining ones afloat would be stretched too thin to cover their missions for lack of relief as those supposed to undergo repairs are not getting any maintenance work done.
“The Vessel Operation Center (VOC)…reasoned out that the non-replacement/repair of the worn-out non-operating equipment was due to non-availability of budget for capital outlays,” the COA noted.
It added the planned dry-docking could not be implemented as the VOC was subjected to budget cuts.
The COA questioned the move to lop off the maintenance and repair budget noting that by the way things are going, BFAR could end up paying the cost of loans for boats that it cannot use because they are too worn to go to sea.
Of the 43 PL 480 patrol vessels, seven each were given to coastal municipalities of Bohol and Cebu; six were turned over to Palawan; five to Negros Oriental; four to Sarangani; three for Batangas; two each for Aurora, Compostela Valley, and Davao Oriental; and one each for Marinduque, Mindoro Oriental, Siquijor, Davao del Sur, and Davao del Norte.
“BFAR CO management commented that monitoring of the PL 480 patrol boats were not conducted in CY 2017 since no budget was allocated for the monitoring and lack of personnel to do the monitoring work,” auditors said.
“The status and condition of 43 patrol boats under the PL 480 project …cannot be determined due to the absence of periodic monitoring by BFAR and non-submission of quarterly reports from the Regional Offices,” they added.
Records showed the last time the BFAR bothered to conduct a monitoring of the PL 480 boats was in 2015. No such work was accomplished in 2016 and 2017 except for Mindoro Oriental and Sarangani in 2016.
The two-year-old records showed 37 LGUs complied with their obligations under their contract with the BFAR to provide budgets for the maintenance and operation of the patrol boats.
On the other hand, four LGUs had their patrol boats taken away for failing to meet the requirements to sustain operations while those assigned to two LGUs had no records since 2011.
Auditors likewise found that at least five LGUs converted their patrol boats for use in tourism activities in violation of their memorandum of agreement with the BFAR that the vessels are strictly to be used for fisheries law enforcement and coastal resources management only. |
