THE Commission on Audit has referred to the Office of the Ombudsman a helicopter rental deal by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Region 11 in 2012 for alleged overpayment.
In an eight-page decision released yesterday, the COA En Banc affirmed the disallowance issued in 2013 against the full payment of P498,000 to aircraft owner J. N. Agabon Enterprises but reduced the amount to just P362,182 representing the excess charge.
The ruling denied the petition for review filed by DENR-Region 11 officials noting that the lease of the chopper at P45,272.72 per hour did not undergo a public bidding in violation of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).
The ruling was signed by COA Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana.
While the Commission sustained the stand of the respondent DENR officials that the transaction falls within the threshold for “small value procurement” since the cost is below P500,000, it pointed out that the rules still required the agency to get proposals from at least three independent suppliers.
Held liable for the disallowance were former DENR regional executive director Jim Sampulna, Accounting Section chief Judith Abrenica, and JN Agabon Enterprise.
Records showed the DENR created a Special Task Force on Anti-Illegal Logging Campaign on May 31, 2010.
Task Force Kalasangan, assigned in Mindanao, conducted an aerial survey of the boundaries of Regions 11 and 13 on June 23, 2012.
Auditors questioned the payment of P498,000 equivalent to 11 hours of flying time even though the aerial survey only took three hours.
In their appeal, DENR officials cited the Aircraft Operations Low (AOL) which showed the chopper was aloft for five hours and 19 minutes, contrary to the Post Flight Operations Log (PFOL) used by the audit team which showed only three hours.
Adding the waiting time which the respondents insisted should be included increased the chargeable rental hours to nine hours and 37 minutes. Using these computations, the excess is reduced to just a little over one hour and a half, equivalent to just P62,476.36.
In reviewing the records, however, the COA En Banc noted that contrary to the terms of the lease that the aircraft would be available for 11 hours starting from 7 a.m., the AOL showed that the chopper arrived at the Davao Airport only at 8:25 a.m. on June 23, 2012.
“However, the subsequent pages of the AOL which should show the actual time of takeoff and possibly the return/landing time were not submitted by the petitioners.
It declared the justification for the inclusion of waiting time “unconvincing (for) being a self-serving statement” noting that this was not supported by any evidence.
“Since the petitioners failed to provide convincing evidence to support their computation of the total number of hours to be used in determining the proper amount of payment, that calculation of the SA/ATL (supervising auditor/audit team leader) should be upheld,” the COA said.
In light of the violations of RA 9184, the commission directed the Prosecution and Litigation Office to forward the records of the case to the Ombudsman for investigation and possible filing of charges against the officials and persons responsible.
