COA flags Nabcor’s unfinished liquidation a decade since abolition

MANILA, Philippines – The National Agribusiness Corporation (Nabcor), a government agency whose abolition was approved by the late former president Benigno Aquino III in 2013, has yet to complete its plan for liquidation more than a decade later.

The Commission on Audit (COA), which flagged the delay, warned that continuing inaction by Department of Agriculture (DA) officials may lead to the loss of Nabcor’s remaining assets, as well as the non-enforcement of notices of disallowance covered by notices of finality of decision (NFD).

State auditors said the agency had 158 total disallowances with corresponding NFDs as of end-2023, and those transactions were worth P406.25 million.

DA Assistant Secretary for Consumer Affairs Genevieve Velicaria-Guevarra, the chairperson of the technical working group of the DA’s transition management committee, assured COA it will ramp up efforts to expedite the closing of Nabcor’s book of accounts.

It was in 2013 when the Governance Commission on GOCCs recommended the abolition of Nabcor for operating at a loss for numerous years.

The agency was also linked to the multi-billion-peso fraud in relation to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Malampaya Fund scams. – Rappler.com