THE Department of Agriculture (DA) defended its 'unobligated' and 'unliquidated' funds amounting to at least P46.681 billion, saying this was mainly due to discontinued activities because of the restrictions and health protocols brought about by the pandemic.

This, after the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (Pcafi) reiterated its call for the agency to publicly explain the issue. To recall, Pcafi first demanded the DA to explain the matter in a letter to Agriculture Secretary William Dar dated Sept. 1, 2021, after the Commission on Audit (CoA) released its 2020 regular audit report on the department.