SENATE minority leader Franklin Drilon yesterday said officials responsible for the P1.44 trillion idle funds flagged by the Commission on Audit should be held administratively and criminally liable “because of their reckless imprudence.”
Drilon said officials responsible can be cited for nonfeasance or omission to perform a duty required of public officers.
“They should be held responsible. The officials responsible could be charged for causing injury to the public because of their reckless imprudence,” Drilon said.
He said the COA’s findings came at a time when President Duterte had said the government’s resources are depleted due to the pandemic and funds are not enough to help victims of typhoon Odette.
“We borrow funds to cover the deficits in the budget. We borrow funds for vaccines. We have no funds for the typhoon victims. But COA finds P1.44T in idle funds?” Drilon said in a statement.
He lashed out at the government, accusing it of criminal neglect after the COA flagged delayed abandoned and idle infrastructure projects.
Drilon said this is “the worst waste of taxpayers’ money in history.”
“We have P1.44 trillion funds for various infrastructures sitting somewhere while thousands of families have no homes and food this Christmas. We have these mammoth funds for projects that are stalled for years while the government is saying it is scrimping on funds to provide immediate aid to typhoon-affected cities, municipalities and provinces,” Drilon added.
Drilon said the funds should be immediately recalled and realigned to provide funds for typhoon Odette victims.
He recalled during the plenary debates on the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022 that it was put on record that the government’s outstanding debt could reach P11.7 trillion by end of 2021.
He said the idle funds can also be utilized for the procurement of vaccines next year, adding that bulk of the budget for the much-needed booster shots remains in the unprogrammed fund of the soon to-be-signed 2022 General Appropriations Act.
In the 2020 Annual Financial Report (AFR), the COA identified “Infrastructure projects implemented by 17 agencies and 12 SUCs (state universities and colleges) amounting to P1.44 trillion and P1.1 billion, respectively, were either not executed in accordance with the plan with noted deficiencies, not completed on time, not completed at all which may result in waste of government funds or delayed enjoyment of project benefits.”
“Instead of using our limited funds to augment the budget for social and health service sectors, the government has devoted so much of its resources to the infrastructure and defense sectors. Our social and health services took a backseat precisely to fund these infrastructure projects that the COA found delayed and idle,” Drilon said.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said government prosecutors from the Ombudsman or Department of Justice and investigating agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation and the PNP should “give utmost importance and attention to the regular and special Commission on Audit reports” if the government is really serious in ridding corruption within.
“The audit reports provide very good leads in identifying misuse and abuse of public funds and pursuing cases against erring public officials as well as their cohorts in the private sector, including contractors and suppliers,” Lacson said.
He said huge amounts of taxpayers’ money is lost to corruption, which, in most cases, were left unpunished.
“We owe it to the next generation of Filipinos to act now with strong political will in addressing corruption… We are already neck-deep in debt without seeing the commensurate programs, projects, and activities designed to uplift the lives of Filipinos,” he added.
