Antipork crusaders hit COA for inaction

By: Christine O. Avendaño, Gil C. Cabacungan - 10 years ago

Four petitioners led by former senatorial candidate Greco Belgica sought a petition for mandamus from the Supreme Court on Friday to require COA Chair Ma. Grace Pulido-Tan (inset) and COA Director Susana Garcia of the special audits office to issue notices of disallowance to those responsible for the channeling of P6.156 billion in PDAF to 82 NGOs. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines–Antipork crusaders are urging the Supreme Court to compel the Commission on Audit (COA) to recover more than P6 billion in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) granted to nongovernment organizations (NGOs) from 2007 to 2009 under questionable circumstances.

Four petitioners led by former senatorial candidate Greco Belgica sought a petition for mandamus from the Supreme Court on Friday to require COA Chair Ma. Grace Pulido-Tan and COA Director Susana Garcia of the special audits office to issue notices of disallowance to those responsible for the channeling of P6.156 billion in PDAF to 82 NGOs.

A notice would ask the NGOs or even the endorsing lawmaker to refund the disallowed amount to the COA.

In a related move, lawyer Levito Baligod is building up a case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her son Camarines Sur Rep. Dato Arroyo, as neither the Department of Justice nor the Office of the Ombudsman has acted on the COA finding that P391 million from the President’s Social Fund (PSF) was irregularly funneled in 2010 to seven NGOs allegedly controlled by their supporters.

The amount was part of the more than P1.2 billion from the PSF that was transferred to various NGOs and government agencies in 2010 and recorded as donations, making it difficult to establish accountability for the money, according to the COA. The PSF is a lump-sum fund derived from the earnings of state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

“There are funds other than PDAF that were malversed. Funds intended for our farmers and fisherfolk were interdicted to benefit corrupt officials. Even the Presidential Social Fund was not spared, as substantial portions of it were donated to suspicious foundations for personal and political ends,” Baligod said in a phone interview.

Notices unissued

In their petition, Belgica et al. reminded Tan that she told the high court on Oct. 8 last year that the COA was in the process of issuing the notices of disallowance following the PDAF special audit covering 2007 to 2009.

“Given the scope of the audit, we expect to issue thousands and thousands of notices of disallowance. We estimate P6 billion worth of disallowances will be made within the year,” Tan said under questioning by Justice Luis P. Bersamin during the opening of oral arguments on the abolition of the pork barrel PDAF.

But petitioners Reuben Abante, Josel Gonzalez and Mandamus Quintin Paredes San Diego noted that fellow petitioner Belgica had written a letter to Tan reminding her of her promise to issue the disallowance notices but did not get a reply.

“This petition is timely filed since respondents are continuously neglecting the performance of imperative duties, namely, the duty to issue or cause to be issued notices of disallowance of the disallowed P6.156 billion in PDAF and the duty to act on the request for copies of notices served, if any,” the petitioners said.

Spurious documents

In its special audit released in August last year, the COA said NGOs endorsed by lawmakers, not implementing agencies, undertook most of the livelihood projects. Their PDAF was transferred to the NGOs “despite the absence of any appropriation law or ordinance.”

The COA said the 82 NGOs entrusted with implementing 772 projects worth P6.156 billion were either found questionable, submitted spurious documents or failed to liquidate in whole or in part their use of the funds.

The petitioners held that the COA neglected to issue the disallowances contrary to what Tan had told the high court.

“It is worthy to note that upon the release of the aforesaid audit report, it behooves the respondents to issue the [disallowances]…. The blatant disregard of public duties and (Tan’s) own promise to the Supreme Court to issue thousands of [disallowances] smack of deception on her part. [Tan] is, therefore, compellable through said writ,” the petitioners said.

Belgica et al. requested the high court to order the COA to issue notices of disallowance to the lawmakers, other public officials, NGOs and their officers, and all people responsible for the misuse of the PDAF “with dispatch.”

They also asked the high court to order the COA to furnish them copies of the notices.

The Supreme Court declared last December that the PDAF, a lump-sum fund that financed projects of senators and members of the House of Representatives, was unconstitutional. The PDAF was a source of kickbacks for lawmakers.

Lack of vouchers

Baligod, a former lawyer of Benhur Luy and other whistle-blowers in the case against Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion PDAF scam, said that as early as 2012, the COA had raised a red flag on Arroyo’s channeling of P391 million from the PSF in her last six months in office to seven NGOs for lack of disbursement vouchers and supporting documents.

The NGOs were Bicol Network (Bicol-Net) for Community Organizing and Linkages, Libmanan-Pulantuna Planters Federation Inc. (LPPFI), GMAC Foundation, Gawing Tama Movement Inc., Philippine Bamboo Foundation, Lopez (Quezon), Greater Manila Residents Association, and Evena Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

Baligod said he had obtained evidence indicating that officials of the NGOs were election organizers and supporters of the mother and son who won congressional seats in Pampanga and Camarines Sur, respectively, in 2010.

“We have obtained reports that the NGOs who received the PSF were supporters of Dato Arroyo,” the lawyer said.

He presented documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission that showed that LPPFI was incorporated in October 2009, or just a few months before it received P75 million from the PSF.

He said Bicol-Net also received P66 million in PSF.

Arroyo counsels Ferdinand Topacio and Raul Lambino had not replied to the Inquirer’s query as of press time.

The P391 million given to the seven NGOs was part of the P1.268 billion disbursed by then President Arroyo from January to June 2010 to government agencies and NGOs as donations, which exempted the Office of the President from submitting reports on the use of the funds.

Violation

In its 2010 annual audit report released in June 2012, the COA said the Office of the President violated COA circulars that prescribed rules and regulations to ensure that money transferred to implementing agencies was properly used and accounted for, and to promote transparency and accountability in the use of funds given to NGOs.

“Accountability over the funds transferred/released to various government agencies/offices and to nongovernment/peoples’ organizations totaling P1.268 billion could not be established because these were recorded as ‘donations,’ contrary to the provisions of [COA circulars],” the audit agency said.

“Moreover, the recording of fund transfers to the donation expense account is irregular and contrary to the above-mentioned COA circulars because it released the management, particularly the source agency, from the responsibility of requiring the implementing agency to submit reports on checks issued and on disbursements as required,” it said.

Originally posted at 12:37 am | Monday, June 9, 2014