Nancy Binay grills Heidi Mendoza on COA budget

Sen. Nancy Binay: Her turn. INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines–On Tuesday, it was Sen. Nancy Binay’s turn to put Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Heidi Mendoza in the hot seat, questioning the slow progress the COA was making in its scrutiny of the Malampaya Fund.

Last week, Mendoza had appeared at the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee inquiry into the alleged overprice of Makati City Hall Building II and testified on her earlier audit of the purchase of allegedly overpriced medical equipment during the term of former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, the senator’s mother.

On Tuesday, at the Senate hearing on the COA budget, Senator Binay noted that so far the COA had released only one report on the use of the Malampaya funds and this was by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

Mendoza, appearing at the hearing for the COA, said the agency was doing its best to fast-track the reports, but the sheer volume of the documents involved was slowing it down.

She said the COA was set to complete by next year more reports on different government agencies’ use of the Malampaya funds from 2004 to 2012, but the findings on the departments that received the bigger amounts would have to come later.

Binay noted that the special audit on the Malampaya Fund was begun in 2012. She pointed out the Senate blue ribbon committee was set to conduct an inquiry into the use of the Malampaya funds, but it would apparently have only the DAR report to work with.

Mendoza said the agency was doing its best to complete all the reports.

These reports would be on the departments of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Public Works and Highways, Health, Transportation and Communications, National Defense, Interior and Local Government, and Energy, National Electrification Administration, National Power Corp., National Housing Authority, Philippine Coast Guard and several local government units.

Mendoza said the COA is expected to release the reports on about half of these agencies by next year.

Binay said the COA should try to work faster.

“If you will come out with your report next year, it means it takes you three years to come out with a report. Is there no way to fast-track (it)?” she asked.

Mendoza replied that the COA was doing its best to speed up its work and had been recruiting people “aggressively,” but gathering all the documents alone took much time.

“Extracting the documents is very time-consuming. We ourselves go to the bodegas to get them. We’re not saying we’re surrendering, we’re trying to find a solution to fast-track the audit,” she said.

Then Binay got to the apparent heart of the matter.

She ordered the COA to submit its initial observations on the agencies it had already audited for the Malampaya funds.

The auditors balked at this, saying that they were confidential.

Binay, however, retorted that the COA had disclosed its preliminary findings in another Senate hearing, apparently referring to the blue ribbon subcommittee investigation into the alleged overprice of Makati City Hall Building II involving her father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, and brother, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay.

During the last blue ribbon subcommittee hearing, the senators directed the COA to publicly disclose the findings of its preliminary report on the building, despite the reluctance of the COA officials to do so. The subcommittee members cited public interest for needing to make the disclosure.

The initial findings detailed by the COA auditors revealed several red flags in the construction of the controversial building.

In response to Senator Binay’s request on Tuesday, COA Commissioner Jose Pavia said the COA’s preliminary report on the Makati building was the subject of a subpoena.