A simple and friendly visit to a rice mill in Trinidad town, which had left no trace of violence and intimidation, has escalated into a full-blown legal battle pitting a non-government organization (NGO) against a lady Capitol official who oversees anti-poverty programs of the government. Shortly before weekend, Farmers Development Center Inc. (Fardec), an NGO which holds its main office in Cebu City but operates in a barangay in Trinidad town, filed a criminal complaint against Liza M. Quirog, provincial agriculturist and social economic and environment management (SEEM) cluster head at the Office of Gov. Edgar M. Chatto. And the nature of the case filed? Violation of domicile.

Article 128 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) defines the nature of this criminal act: “The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who, not being authorized by judicial order, shall enter any dwelling against the will of the owner thereof, search papers or other effects found therein without the previous consent of such owner, or having surreptitiously entered said dwelling, and being required to leave the premises, shall refuse to do so.” “If the offense be committed in the night-time, or if any papers or effects not constituting evidence of a crime be not returned immediately after the search made by the offender, the penalty shall be prision correccional in its medium and maximum,” the Code states. The case stemmed from Quirog's routine visit of a rice mill allegedly managed by FARDEC in Sitio Panaghiusa, San Vicente, Trinidad town, on July 22, 2014. The said place is home to 21-year old Dinoberto Polistico Fuentes, a supporter of FARDEC tagged mastermind of the Sept. 1, 2014 deadly bombing in Trinidad public market which claimed three lives and critically injured 11 others.

ORIGIN OF COMPLAINT

Rowena Busalanan, alleged rice mill caretaker and resident of San Vicente, has accused Quirog of impropriety for allegedly entering into the rice mill premise with military personnel. Quirog has denied the allegation and said that no single army personnel was with her when she personally visited the controversial rice mill, which allegedly supplies rice to members of Trinidad-Talibon Integrated Farmers Association (TTIFA), an organization affiliated with Hukbong sa Mag-uumang Bol-anon (HUMABOL). Reacting to the case, Quirog said FARDEC's “dirty tactics” is finally exposed through its own doing courtesy of what she calls a “ridiculous” complaint filed against a government worker. Unperturbed with the nature of the complaint, Quirog said she trusts wisdom of the judicial system of the country, which she said can easily detect any form of harassment employed by militant organizations targeting government workers.

But Quirog told media that FARDEC is bent on harassing her no end for fears of being exposed over the NGO's ghost projects and zero performance report. “FARDEC's fear of losing millions of money from existing donors who still continue to believe in their organization is obviously becoming clearer and clearer,” a press statement issued by the Capitol last night said. “Quirog found out that they (FARDEC officials) have neglected TTIFA, which is their major client farmers organization,” the statement said. A classified government accounting report has revealed that FARDEC had received P3.446 million from AUSAID in 2006 but the Australian funding agency quit the program when it discovered that FARDEC had repeatedly failed to submit any accomplish reports to the Provincial Government of Bohol in 2009.

FARDEC in an earlier news release had denied of being dropped by AUSAID, but records are in the office of Quirog, who was a member of the Project Committee from 2006-2009 until FARDEC was removed from the AUSAID-funded program. “This NGO called FARDEC, which is based in Cebu, has no sense of accountability to the people,” the Capitol said in its press statement. “Each time their money-making is being threatened of being exposed to the public, they resort to harassment and they love to distort stories, just like what happened in San Vicente, Trinidad when Quirog visited the rice mill on July 22, 2014,” the statement said. It noted that Quirog had found abandoned projects of TTIFA, supposedly funded by FARDEC from funds it received from Germany and Canada. “Nagsalimuang na gyud ang FARDEC sa ilang propaganda aron lamang dili mawad-an og kredibilidad sa ilang mga miyembrong mag-uuma nga dugay na nilang gigamit aron mokuha og pundo sa mga simbahan sa Germany ug Canada,” the press statement said. “Nasindolan ni Quirog nga ang mga proyekto nga gihapin sa FARDEC nga kuno ilang gi gastohan alang sa mga mag-uuma pero walay igong kamatuoran. Nakuhaan og hulagway ang mga project sauna sa TTIFA nga wala nay sulod karon,” it added.