VP office to submit clarification on unliquidated fund releases

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) is set to submit to the Commission on Audit further clarification on the reported P95-million unliquidated releases from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from back to three years ago in the wake of audit findings pointing to its failure to explain the disbursements.

In a statement on Saturday, the office of Vice President Jejomar Binay said it would send information to COA to better explain the fund releases, adding it had clarified the matter with the commission six months ago.

“The OVP has clarified as early as June this year the observations made by the COA contained in its audit findings released recently,” Binay’s office said in a statement.

Rosalie Licauco, assistant chief of staff at the OVP, also told state auditor Marife Tubana in a letter on June 22 that the OVP “will submit other needed information for post-audit purposes at the soonest possible time.”

The letter, as cited in the statement the OVP released on Saturday, touched on one specific item in the disbursements—the procurement of relief goods in 2013—but did not address the bulk of the releases. This would be further explained in its expected submission to the COA, said the OVP.

In a report released on Wednesday, COA said P95.09 million in releases from Binay’s PDAF from 2012 to 2013, before the discretionary fund was scrapped due to anomalies, remained unliquidated.

The report was released just as Binay, standard-bearer of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance for the May 2016 elections, grappled with allegations of corruption in government contracts during his time as mayor of Makati City, the country’s business capital.

The COA report cited the unliquidated funds as follows: P59.46 million for the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construction, repair and rehabilitation of Office of Senior Citizens Affairs Multi-Purpose Building; P18 million to fund Commission on Higher Education scholarships; and P17.624 million for livelihood, social welfare and health programs in the Binay bailiwick, Makati City.

In her letter to Tubana, Licauco explained the OVP’s decision to choose MPL Trading as supplier for P879.55 million worth of relief goods for families affected by monsoon rains in 2015.

She said the firm was selected in the interest of fast delivery to families in need.

“We were more concerned about the timely delivery and availability of the goods in the calamity areas without prejudice to pricing which is advantageous to the government,” Licauco said in her letter to Tubana.

She said the OVP procured the rice supply for its relief operations from the National Food Authority.

“Since our primary supplier is located within Luzon areas only, requirement for Visayas and Mindanao, if not available from local suppliers within the area of calamity, were mostly procured from the supplier in question,” Licauco said.

“It has the capability of serving large quantity of goods and delivered the same immediately and directly to the calamity areas which were mostly far-flung provinces,” she said in the letter. RC