A lady lawmaker has asked the Bureau of Treasury to account for the alleged P25 billion “missing” Malampaya Fund uncovered by the Commission on Audit.
Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato said the Treasury must explain the discrepancy in the current balance of the Malampaya Fund.
“What happened to this P25 billon?” Sato asked, in response to a CoA report that detected the discrepancy between the cash releases and remittances pertaining to the Malampaya Fund.
Sato, author of House Bill 4604, a measure that seeks to authorize the use of these funds for renewable energy and biodiversity programs, said the P21 billion in cash releases and P4 billion in remiitances as of December 2016 should be looked into, noting that no less than CoA itself had cast doubt on the reliability of the balance of the Malampaya Fund.
CoA cited sizable discrepancies between two records of the controversial fund, which represented government royalties from the offshore natural gas project in the Camago-Malampaya Reservoir in the West Philippine Sea, Sato said citing a news report.
The report said that based on the BTr’s own report under the title “Department of Energy (DOE)-Malampaya Special Account in the General Fund 151,” Sato said total of P232 billion was remitted to the national treasury by the DoE from 2002 to 2016.
On the other hand, P42 billion was released from the fund to finance government energy projects, leaving a balance of P189 billion, the CoA said, quoting a BTr financial report.
The COA said the figures did not match those in subsidiary ledgers kept by BTr’s National Cash
Accounting Division (NCAD) under the tag “Cash-Treasury/Agency Deposit Special Account-DOE-Malampaya.”
It says that NCAD records showed that remittances and releases from the Malampaya Fund amounted to P236 billion and P21 billion, respectively, over the same 12-year period, leaving a balance of P214 billion, Sato said.
No ledger for remittances was actually available for 2002 in the second record as the BTr’s NCAD onlybegan keeping track of it in 2003, Sato noted citing the COA report.
If properly used, Sato said P25 billion will go a long way in jump-starting renewable energy projects that would boost power supply and energize off-the-grid, island provinces like those that lies within the MIMAROPA Region.
Sato, vice chairperson of the House Committee on Economic Affairs and a member of the House
Committee on Energy, said the Malampaya funds should be used to “energize” remote islands with no access to, or short in supply of, power and electricity.
The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier proposed to tap the Malampaya fund to pay for billions of pesos worth of debt incurred by the state-run National Power Corporation (NPC).
According to Sato, it is high time that a portion of the fund goes to projects that promotes renewable energy, particularly in remote islands that are “off the grid” or not yet connected to the main power grid, to promote inclusive growth.
“People in island provinces, towns or even barangays suffer from fluctuating electricity because of power shortage. We need to energize our remote islands to lure investors and spur economic activities,” she said.