PS-DBM: P3-billion investment fund to revert to treasury

MANILA, Philippines — The Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) will return to state coffers P3 billion in investment funds recently flagged by state auditors.

“As regards the audit observation memorandum (AOM) on the high-yield investment, please note that we are already reviewing the audit observation on the high-yield savings account and shall revert to the Commission on Audit (COA) to address the AOM,” Dennis Santiago, PS-DBM executive director, said in a statement on Tuesday.

State auditors learned that the PS-DBM had invested in high-yield savings accounts with the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines to earn at higher interest rates as compared to current or savings accounts.

But the COA had noted that PS-DBM did not have a mandate to invest funds and its primary task was to procure common-use supplies and equipment for other government agencies.

In the same statement, Santiago also echoed Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman’s call last week, asking legislators to give the controversial agency a chance amid bills filed in Congress seeking its abolition.

Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, meanwhile, said that Malacañang would wait for the results of the investigations before making its stance known on calls to abolish the PS-DBM.

At the House of Representatives, the Makabayan bloc filed House Bill No. 3270, which sought to abolish the PS-DBM for being a “breeding ground for graft, corruption, inefficiency and negligence of the duties of other government agencies.”

RELATED STORIES

P3 billion high-yield investment of PS-DBM flagged by COA is ‘intact’ – exec

Budget chief: Give PS-DBM a chance

PS-DBM suspends procurement of non-common use supplies, equipment