SBMA probes firms’ P4B in unpaid fees

SBMA Chair Martin Diño

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The head of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has formed a committee to look into alleged irregularities uncovered by the Commission on Audit (COA) in 2015.

SBMA Chair Martin Diño said he would pursue legal action against erring SBMA officials and employees responsible for the irregularities.

Diño cited a COA report submitted to the SBMA board of directors in June 2015 that called attention to more than P4 billion marked as “accounts receivable” which the previous SBMA administration declared in its 2015 financial statement.

Accounts receivables are money which SBMA needs to collect from companies with which it has ongoing transactions.

Corazon Gomez, COA Central Luzon regional director, said P3.495 billion or 85 percent of the reported accounts receivable as of Dec. 31, 2015 was “doubtful since their existence and correctness were not established.”

Corazon also described P489 million (representing 11 percent of the total trade receivables) as “non-moving” items dating back to 2013. A trade receivable is another accounting term for accounts receivable.

“Of 57 notices sent to residents, 37 were returned with remarks: ‘No one to receive, abandoned, unlocated, different unit owner, or closed or under SBMA control,’ while the remaining 20 mails have no reply,” the COA report said.

The COA also sent out 30 letters to locators but 11 were returned because the companies were either closed, were sequestered and placed under the control of SBMA or there were no people authorized to receive the documents. It said 19 of these firms failed to respond.

The report cited lapses in the grant and liquidation of cash advances in 2015, which included P14 million in cash advances of SBMA officers who were not designated as disbursing officers.

The commission also said there was inadequate documentation of liquidations amounting to P5.5 million.

“We already requested those [mentioned in the COA report] to send us a letter of explanation. We also asked them to inform us about the action they will take and how they will comply with the COA recommendations,” Diño said.

He said he has tasked an eight-member audit team to review all the dubious accounts from the previous administration.

“We will seek the truth and go after those who were responsible for any wrongdoing. We will definitely file charges against them,” he added.