The Commission on Audit has lifted the 2015 disallowance on the motor vehicle license plate standardization program of the Department of Transportation.
COA chairperson Michael Aguinaldo, along with Commissioners Jose Fabia and Roland Pondoc, ruled to grant the petitions for review filed by former Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya and the agency’s bids and awards committee officials based on a Supreme Court ruling on the program.
The SC in 2015 mooted all challenges to the validity of the contract, including allegations that there was inadequate funding when it was awarded in 2013 to the joint venture of J. Knieriem B.V Goes Philippines Inc. and Power Plates Development Concepts Inc.
COA, however, said its ruling only covered the lifting of the disallowance on the P477.901-million advance payment to the contractor, but it did not exempt former officials of the DOTr and the Land Transportation Office for violation of the procurement law.
The amount of P477.901 million, representing the required 15 percent advance payment to the contractor, was released in two tranches – the first amounting to P340.75 million on June 30, 2014 and the second in the sum of P137.151 million on July 14, 2014.
State auditors, however, said that during the bidding and subsequent awarding of the contract in 2013, there was only an appropriation of P187.293 million for motor vehicle registration and driver’s licensing regulatory services.
