The Commission on Audit has flagged Pag-IBIG Fund’s Home Mutual Development Fund for the procurement of 21 cars for its officers last year without the approval from the Office of the President.
In its 2020 audit report, COA said Pag-IBIG disbursed P36.355 million in line with its 2015 car plan.
“This is composed of the P34.298 million cost of the 21 vehicles purchased for its officers and other expenses, specifically repairs and maintenance, insurance and registration of the subject vehicles totaling P2.057 million,” the report read.
Pag-IBIG Fund paid the bill of 50 percent of the cost of the vehicles, while the other half would be deducted from the wages, allowances and/or bonuses of the 21 officers.
The car plan program benefited department heads up to vice presidents.
The prices of the cars ranged from P800,000 to P1.8 million.
Pag-IBIG Fund, however, stood firm on its ground that a presidential approval was no longer necessary. The laws cited by COA require presidential approval only in case of new benefits or when there is an increase in benefits, it said.
“In our case, the car plan is not a new benefit. It has been in place since 1983. It is also not an increase in benefits. On the contrary, it is a reduction in benefits that we implemented following COA’s recommendation in 2014,” vice president for public relations Kalin Franco-Garcia said.
“In fact, we must also emphasize that in the very same COA Report, COA awarded us their highest audit rating. This makes it nine straight years that Pag-IBIG Fund has received the highest rating from COA. This is proof that Pag-IBIG Fund’s financial records have been and continue to be transparent, fair, and accurate,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives filed a resolution seeking a legislative investigation into allegedly anomalous transactions in the distribution of the social amelioration program flagged by COA.
The bloc, composed of Bayan Muna Party-list Representatives Carlos Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite, and Eufemia Cullamat; ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro; Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas; and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago filed House Resolution 2146 to investigate the distribution of SAP funds under the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The bloc said the previous distribution of the billions-worth SAP was awarded to a dubious company Starpay, as exposed recently by Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao earlier bared that some P10.4 billion in SAP funds are missing, with about 1.3 million beneficiaries supposedly unable to get critical pandemic aid. He questioned the use of Starpay for the program.
A 2020 COA report also showed personnel of state-run People’s Television Network Inc (PTV) received a total P189.782 million in salaries which could not be ascertained as legal, valid and accurate.
State auditors noted the non-submission of properly filled-up and signed Daily Time Records or DTRs, contrary to provisions of Presidential Decree 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines and COA Circular No. 2012-001.
The salaries were paid to regular employees as well as contractual and contract of service (COS) personnel.
In a statement, the network’s board and management appreciated the “fairest possible audit of the accounts and transactions of the network.”
“We take to heart the findings of the audit team and guarantee that our concerned offices are working hard to ensure that the recommendations are implemented,” the PTV board and management said.
