COA: PICC failed to remit P150.3M

The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Philippine International Convention Center Inc. (PICCI), the company that runs the PICC, for failing to remit some P150.32 million to the national treasury in 2017.

The amount, which represented half of its P300.65-million net income for 2017, was instead remitted to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the parent company of PICCI.

But in its audit report released on April 16, the COA said the amount should have been submitted to the national treasury pursuant to Republic Act No. 7656, or the Dividends Law.

In its report, the PICC claimed that it was not covered by the Dividends Law because its annual budget came from the BSP and not from the General Appropriations Act.

But the COA said the national government indirectly owned PICCI through the BSP.