Rizal lawmaker asked by COA to explain pork fund use
MANILA, Philippines — State auditors have pinpointed another lawmaker with questionable disbursements of his pork barrel—this time from Rizal province.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has asked the representative from Rizal to justify and provide proper documentation for some P28.3 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that he released to his staff officer, who then doled out the money purportedly as refunds for scholarships, livelihood projects, medical expenses and burial assistance to constituents, among other things.
The COA did not name the House member, from Rizal which has two representatives, Joel Roy R. Duavit (first district) and Isidro S. Rodriguez Jr. (second district), who are both members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and serving their second terms. Both Duavit and Rodriguez could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Based on the COA’s 2012 annual audit report on the Rizal provincial government, which was released last week, the unnamed Rizal representative through his finance officer doled out P28.3 million without complete documentation, which “(rendered) the propriety and validity of the claims doubtful.”
Also, the COA said this violated the guidelines set under National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 529, providing that pork funds be released only to implementing agencies or local government units (LGU) like the Rizal provincial government.
The COA said the lawmaker should have been limited to identifying the projects, considering that Rizal province was fully capable of implementing the scholarship and livelihood programs.
But the lawmaker released eight checks to his finance officer last year: P1 million on Feb. 13 for 200 college students who supposedly received P5,000 each; P4 million on Feb. 27 for 4,000 elementary and high school students at P1,000 each; P5 million on June 13 for 10,000 elementary and high school students at P500 each; P1.2 million on July 16 for 240 college students receiving P5,000 each; P3.5 million on May 21 to 1,498 individuals; P5.171 million in Nov. 16 to 1,114 teachers, tricycle drivers, jobless persons, barangay health workers and day care workers; P6.429 million on Dec. 7 for 1,286 recipients getting P5,000 each; and P2 million on Aug. 30 for no specific purpose.
Auditors also noted glaring deficiencies in the papers supporting the scholarship projects, such as: Addresses of students and the schools where they were enrolled were not specified; the students’ report cards, schedule of payments and identification papers of their parents were missing as only a certification of the lawmaker’s screening committee was submitted; there were missing and duplicate names on payrolls; and the salary receipts were not signed by the recipients themselves.
For livelihood programs, the COA said the lawmaker submitted only the names of the team leaders of the beneficiaries while failing to provide the attendance sheet for the seminars, details for the P500 meals and the purpose of the P5,000 granted to 1,986 recipients.
For financial assistance for medical, burial and calamity expenses, the COA noted that the lawmaker did not provide specific addresses of recipients, and supporting documents such as hospital bills or death certificates recommended and signed by social workers were not submitted. The COA cited one beneficiary who was given P20,000.00 (or nearly seven times the normal rate of P3,000) in burial assistance without any justification.
“Due to the above deficiencies, a thorough verification and confirmation of the expenses could not be done, hence, the validity and propriety of the above disbursements could not be fully determined. Also, the authenticity of the signatures of the payees affixed on the payrolls could not be ascertained in the absence of any document where to compare the same,” said the COA.
The COA has demanded that the lawmaker submit complete documents to liquidate his expenses made through his aide.
The Rizal provincial government reported that it had already stopped this practice of legislators spending their pork for themselves.
The COA has filed cases of plunder or malversation against over 70 people—lawmakers, their chiefs of staffs, officers of executive agencies, among others—for allegedly diverting up to P10 billion in pork barrel funds to fake nongovernment organizations led by suspected scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. Three senators were on the charge sheet, among them, former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
The Supreme Court recently declared the pork barrel unconstitutional. Lawmakers, under the Constitution’s separation of powers, should be making laws and not getting involved in the implementation of projects.
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