GOVERNMENT auditors have directed the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) to explain its purchase of a 1.56 hectares farm lot in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija and the construction of a “milking barn” facility on a bull farm that, owing to its name, only serves male cattle.
The 2023 audit report on the PCC released last December 1 revealed that the bull farm was started in 2015 by the PCC-National Headquarters and Gene Pool (PCC-NHGP) with the purchase of a 15.38 hectares property in Barangay Sto. Niño, San Jose, Nueva Ecija for P20 million.
An adjacent lot was acquired the following year for P2.024 million with an area of 1.56 hectares for the planned additional pasture for breeding animals.
Later that same year, the milking barn was erected on the property that was later called the Livestock Biotechnology Research and Animal Facility (LBRAF).
When auditors visited the site in 2023, they found not one grazing animal, which was understandable since the area was practically bare, with only clumps of undernourished grass growing.
“The LBRAF coordinator disclosed that the subject land was not suitable for pasture area due to its soil condition and insufficient forages,” auditors said.
With no grass to feed on, the cattle stayed away and the lot remained barren with no practical use for the past seven years, prompting the Commission on Audit (COA) to note that its acquisition was pointless.
“The continued non-utilization of additional pasture area undermines the purpose for which it was acquired, resulting to inefficient use of government resources,” the audit team said.
The reason for the construction of the milk barn proved to be another headscratcher since it turned out that hardly any female cattle pass through and the rare ones that do were those recovered from farmers due to poor care hence, in no position to produce dairy.
“The LBRAF coordinator explained that since majority of the herd population at the bull farm are male or bulls and some were just retrieved from farmers due to poor body condition, no lactating animals were brought to the barn for milk collection,” the auditors added.
Inspection by the team showed the barn was just an empty structure without any supplies or milking equipment to hint at its purpose. Since 2016, it has not served any purpose at all.
In addition, a different PCC project in Rosario, La Union, the Dairy Processing Plant and Product Outlet simply called the “Dairy Box” built to the tune of P3.4 million also proved to be another non-starter.
“It was found that the Dairy Box has not served its main purpose of milk collection and processing for at least two years since its completion. Its marketing purpose remains to be seen as it offers only a few milk and non-milk products,” auditors noted.
The COA recommended that the PCC formulate plans to find some use for the idle facilities and properties to save them from being complete wastes of government resources.
In its reply, the PCC management said its regional centers have already been notified of the audit findings and recommendations and have committed to comply.