COA affirms notice of disallowance on P39-M road project in Butuan City 

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has affirmed its notice of disallowance over a P39.99 million road rehabilitation and improvement project in Butuan City in the Caraga region.

From the P39.99 million funds used to repair the P-9 to P-14 segment of a road in Sitio Kauswagan in 2010, P19 million was disallowed by COA’s Regional Office in Region XIII as the project was supposedly not completed.

The disallowance — previously pegged at P25.01 million — was deemed correct by COA’s automatic review of the decision dated July 4 and signed by chairperson Michael Aguinaldo and commissioners Jose Fabia and Roland Pondoc.

“As correctly pointed out and exhaustively explained by the RD (Regional Director), COA RO No. XIII, the disallowance for the variance in the design grade elevation and the improper disposal of the excavated materials was proper,” COA said in its decision.

“The only issues left to be addressed are: (1) who should be made liable and (2) to what extent should they be made liable,” the COA added.

Meanwhile, the COA’s Prosecution and Litigation Office and the Legal Service Sector were also directed to refer the records of the case to the Office of the Ombudsman to probe and file the appropriate charges against those responsible for falsely certifying that the road project was 100 percent complete.

COA said the project was disallowed because the government officials claimed the project was already 100 percent complete as of June 2010, and final payment was made in May 2011.  However, audit teams discovered in July 2011 that the project was still not finished, with excavated parts of the road left unused and not disposed properly.

“In its Inspection Report dated July 15, 2011, the Regional TechITS reported, among others, that the design grade elevation was not attained and the excavated materials were not hauled as planned, but were side-wasted,” the COA said.   /muf