FOR failure to justify an P11 million fuel spending on four road projects that exceeded estimates by a whopping 271 percent, former officials of the provincial government of Samar are facing an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered its Prosecution and Litigation Office to refer audit records to the Ombudsman “for investigation and filing of appropriate charges” against persons responsible for approving the procurement of 240,621.9 liters of diesel fuel and 1,040 pails of motor oil in 2007.
Auditors who reviewed the transactions noted that the fuel and lubricants were supposed to have been used in four road projects by the Department of Public Works and Highways, namely the Concepcion-Nawi Crossing/ Anagasi Road, the Buray Cantaoan Road, and the Crossing Tarabucan-Cantaguic Road all in Paranas, Samar; and the Caulayan-Bonga-Mararangsi, Maypangi Road in Motiong, Samar.
Seven notices of suspension were issued against the fuel and lubricant procurement due to the non-submission of required documents, including the Program of works, plans and specification, project cost and time duration, Inspection Report and Certificate of Turnover and Acceptance, and the Fuel Consumption Report.
Late Gov. Milagrosa Tan was among the officials held liable when the notice of disallowance was issued in October 2009.
On February 21, 2011, incumbent Gov. Sharee Ann Tan notified the audit team that the fuel consumption report was already submitted.
The Office of the Provincial Engineer, on the other hand, claimed that heavy equipment like dump trucks, road graders, payloaders, and bulldozers were made rent-free so that the budget intended for equipment rental was simply “parked” with different fuel stations to ensure project continuity. It added that Samar had no fuel storage facilities.
In a decision issued on January 7, 2017, the COA Region 8 ordered the disallowances on the first three projects lifted while retaining only the disallowance for Project No. 4 in the total amount of P1.814 million after inspection revealed that this was not implemented.
The COA Commission Proper however reversed this ruling, noting the lack of a valid explanation why the fuel and lubricant estimate of P2.97 million was exceeded by 271 percent equivalent to P8.04 million.
