Senator Win Gatchalian yesterday threw his support to the call of the Commission on Audit to investigate the alleged anomalous use of P36.288 billion in Malampaya royalties between 2004 and 2012.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate energy committee, said the investigation has been a long-time coming.
“In fact, I made it a point to flag the discrepancies in the collection and disbursement of the Malampaya Fund during the Senate deliberations on the department of Energy [DOE] budget last month.”
With CoA’s recommendation, he said it is clear that these anomalies have to be investigated.
He said the Malampaya funds are meant to be used in building a brighter future for the Philippine energy sector and that their misuse will put that future in jeopardy.
The CoA earlier declared “not proper” the releases of funds by the Department of b.jdget and Management out of the Malampaya Fund, to the different implementing agencies.
CoA’s Sectoral Performance Audit report covered funds which were released not for energy development-related purposes, but for “other purposes authorized by the President”—a practice struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in November 2013.
CoA auditors said not only were the funds intended for unconstitutional purposes, but it also cited the apparent disregard of applicable laws, rules, and regulations which contributed to the misuse of funds.
For one, auditors flagged the lack of documentary requirements to establish the basis for the release of the P36.288-billion funds to 62 implementing agencies.
The report also cited the DBM’s failure to establish first the propriety of the projects to be funded and the reasonableness of the requested amounts. It also noted that as much as P2.171 billion of the funds were diverted to purposes other than those authorized by the President.
“The [audit] team recommends immediate conduct of investigation to determine officials and employees who may be responsible for the questionable release of funds and file appropriate charges, if warranted,” the report read.
It urged the DBM to thoroughly evaluate the “actual needs” of the agencies requesting the Malampaya Funds and ensure the completeness of their documents first.
Rolando Andaya Jr. (now representative of Camarines Sur 1st district), and two years of the Aquino administration under Secretary Florencio Abad.
As of May 21, 2012, as much as P38.807 billion—22.41 percent of the P173.28 billion paid to the national government as of June 30, 2013—were released for “other purposes as may be directed or authorized by the President,” instead of for energy resource development and exploitation.
Meanwhile, a militant lawmaker on Friday said Congress needs to exercise a stringent oversight power on the Malampaya funds as former officials of the DBM face investigation over the questionable release of P38.8 billion worth of revenues from the Malampaya Natural Gas Project in Palawan from 2004 to 2012.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, citing an 80-page Sectoral Performance Audit report released on October 30 of the Commission on Audit, found (COA) the disbursement of the amount—more than 22 percent of the total P173.3 billion collected by the government as of June 30, 2013-may not be considered proper in view of non-compliance with existing laws, rules and regulations.
“This type of misuse is one of the reasons why we filed House Bill 3877 to amend PD 910, Creating an Energy Development Board, and Mandating the Transfer of the Malampaya Funds to the General Fund, so as we can truly see how the fund is being used and appreciate its true value in our national development,” Zarate said.
Zarate recalled that during a congressional hearing on HB 3877 last August, the DBM and the Bureau of Treasury both washed their their hands off on where the P21 billion of the fund did go.
“Afterwards the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) released a list stating that since January 2004 up to February 2013 the past two administrations used the Malampaya funds to finance priority development projects all over the country as well as other projects identified by the executive,” Zarate said.
“It must also be noted that the period that the most number of disbursements occured during October-December 2009 or just a few months before the presidential elections in May 2010,” he added..
During this time, Zarate said P2.27 billion was allotted for structures nationwide while flood control projects and road repairs in NCR was alloted 500 million. Also around P15 million- P50 million were given to different regions all over the country, he added. “Though the highest allotment given was to DPWH-RO I with P551,562,000.”
“As for the Aquino administration, they used the Malampaya fund for buying junk boats and their docking expenses for P3.6 billion while using P1.1 billion only for sitio electrification and P1.2 billion for fuel requirement and genset rentals,” Zarate said.
Zarate said there is no rational use of the funds. “Obviously, the past administrations used the Malampaya funds like a secret campaign kitty and a reserve pork barrel. It is but right that all those involved should be investigated and charged.”