COA tells Aurora LGU: Pay supplier’s P3.7M claim

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A TRANSACTION remains valid and an obligation to pay is enforceable even if original documents are lost as long as there are other means to establish the completion of a contract.

This was the pronouncement of the Commission on Audit as it granted the P3.706 million claim of a private supplier against the provincial government of Aurora for the unpaid delivery of generator sets in 2017.

COA Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana upheld the validity of the claim filed by Applied Systems Manufacturing Corp. (ASMC) regardless of the admission of the Aurora province that it withheld payments since the documents it had as proof of the procurement and delivery were mere photocopies.

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“While payment of government obligations is required to be covered by original supporting documents …denying payment would be to allow the government to enrich itself at the expense of ASMC. Thus, this Commission finds merit in the petition for money claim of ASMC amounting to P3,706,000,” the COA said.

Records showed the provincial government’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) posted an invitation to bid for the procurement of generator sets on a budget of P4.4 million on the Philippine Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) on January 11, 2017. ASMC won the contract after submitting the lowest bid of P3.706 million.

Then Gov. Gerardo Noveras approved the Purchase Order and the Notice to Proceed dated April 4, 2017 in favor of the supplier.

Based on the Acceptance and Inspection Report dated December 29, 2017, the supplier completed the delivery and it was verified as compliant with specifications.

However, per the December 1, 2021 certification issued by the Provincial Accountant, payment was withheld because the original documents went missing.

In support of its claim filed before the COA, the ASMC was only able to submit photocopies of the invitation to bid, the purchase order, the notice of award, the contract for the supply and delivery, the notice to proceed, the bidding documents, and the certificate of non-payment.

Despite this, the COA held that the petitioner adequately substantiated its claim since even the provincial government did not challenge the authenticity of the originals.

Likewise, it noted that the original documents were misplaced after they were submitted to the local government.

“This Commission is convinced that ASMC should be compensated. The procurement for the generator sets underwent the required public bidding in accordance with Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Law). Moreover, …the missing original documents cannot be attributed to ASMC since they were lost when they were already in the possession of the province,” the COA pointed out.

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