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After knowing the scandal in the School Feeding Program (PAE) in Santander, where for more than a year there was meat of horses and donkeys sick to minors, it is now known that this illegal operation managed to circumvent three levels of control.
This was confirmed to EL TIEMPO by Juan Carlos Martínez, director of the Special Administrative Unit for School Food, an entity created at the beginning of this year precisely to attend to the operation of the PAE, generating public policies to improve the coverage of the program as well as its efficiency, especially after the corruption scandals to which it has been subjected.
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Currently, the PAE serves more than 5.6 million students with an annual budget of 2.4 billion pesos. And it is because of the magnitude of the program that the irregularities of cost overruns and food in poor condition are of concern.
In fact, only in this period of pandemic the Comptroller’s Office issued 30 alerts of alleged cost overruns in various regions of the country.
According to Martínez, the Unit works to clarify these facts and thus generate changes in the operation of the program in order to prevent these methods of corruption from taking place. Added to this is a new legislation in process that would structurally modify the hiring of the PAE.
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What is known about the conditions that caused this scandal?
This was a discovery by the Prosecutor’s Office in which it was found that a meat supplier brought this meat illegally, outside of all sanitary controls, but it was packaged and stamped as if it had passed those controls.
This means that he was able to bypass all the regulations and public health controls of the departmental administration. But he was also able to skip the PAE rule that establishes that in meat and dairy cases the origin must be verified and a control carried out by the auditor. And there were also complaints from rectors of institutions about this product and the logical step was for the secretariat to make the appropriate verifications. Three levels of control failed.
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What will the Unit do in this case?
It is now important for us to follow the process in detail. Our job is to find out why all levels of control failed so that this does not happen again. Find the fault in the process to generate guidelines or procedures to make a more effective surveillance.
We are not a control body, but we are generating new audits, we will set up a new detailed information system so that these bodies and the courts can act
We are not a control body, but we are generating new audits, we will set up a new detailed information system so that these bodies and the courts can act. But also so that the same parents can see in real time the daily menu in each educational establishment and verify the origin of the food. It will also be allowed by this means to make the corresponding complaint in the event of any suspicion.
The idea is that it is increasingly difficult for the corrupt to do their thing with the feeding of the little ones.
Can we speak of a systematic act of corruption in the PAE?
Cases like these are specific and should not be generalized. In the whole country there is no corruption in the PAE. These cases make us see the need to increasingly toughen surveillance systems. But from there to saying that in the 40,000 venues there are irregularities is something wrong.
And what happens then with the 30 alerts of possible cost overruns that the Comptroller’s Office revealed during the pandemic?
It is important to clarify that these were alerts but not findings. This means that there may be an irregularity, but it has not yet been corroborated.
Our job is to verify those alerts that were mainly related to alleged cost overruns, a problem that we have already seen in previous scandals.
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If he modus operandi is similar, does it mean that there are posters of the PAE?
There are some signatures that are designated by control and justice bodies as cartels. They normally operate on larger contracts, because the higher the investment, the higher the corruption interest. It is easier to see this in a department or a large city than in a small municipality.
But there is something that we must clarify and that is that these are exceptions and not the rule. Generalizability hurts a lot to the program, to the point that budget reduction decisions are sometimes made. This implies leaving children without food or lowering the quality.
Cost overruns and low rations are other complaints about the program.
Has it not been thought that perhaps these problems come from the legislation?
Yes. In fact we are working on changing the regulations. We have a proposal to include two articles in a project that the Government of transparency hopes to process. The idea is to toughen the penalties for corrupt operators or those who do not comply with their obligations.
We are also working with Colombia Buy Efficient to change operating schemes that regulate the purchase of food and have a stable contracting system.
(Read also: This is how the PAE school feeding program works)
And legislate not only to sanction but also to structurally change the PAE?
There is another legislative project to make substantive modifications to a structural situation in the problem: today we have a program that depends on waiting for how much is allocated and when the resources are given. The one that the budget was assigned in December but the entry into operation was in mid-January.
How do operators do a proper planning if they must start operations in fifteen days? This gives rise to what happens this year, where it was March and there were still regions without PAE.
But it is also an indicator that can trigger corruption, because in the effort to start as soon as possible there may be direct awards. With less time in contract processes, there is less time to monitor. The idea is that the contractual processes can be much more planned and stable.
What is the current impact of the PAE?
We are talking about a program that reaches children in vulnerable conditions. We are also talking about an investment that at the national level amounts to 2.4 trillion pesos a year, which is managed in the 96 certified territorial entities, more than 1,000 municipalities with more than 40,000 educational institutions in the country. We currently serve 5.6 million minors and the goal is to reach 7 million.
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For all of the above, a strong organization is required. We have all these problems such as the late start of the program, not having the resources in a timely manner, the contractual arrangements not being made on time, related to the need to change the scheme to reduce and avoid any possibility of corruption such as the cases that we have. viewed. We must strengthen information systems, transparency, make proposals for adjustments to regulations, among others.
EDUCATION WRITING
