THE Commission on Audit has thrown out the motion for reconsideration filed by 13 officials of the Department of Agriculture — Regional Field Unit 2 (DA-RFU 2), who were held liable for releasing payment of subsidy on hybrid corn based on bogus lists of farmer beneficiaries
COA Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana affirmed the 2015 ruling of the Commission “with finality” and declared that the notices of disallowances remain in effect against all 13 DA-FRU officials previously held liable.
The 13 were identified as Lucrecio R. Alviar, Juan Agsawa, Bonifacio M. Tugade, Ruben Cubero, Wilfredo Lauitao, Orlandano Valencia, Orlando Lorenzana, Rodolfo Reyes, Andrew Villacorta, Erma Bariuan, Vilma Soriano, Elena Baquiran, and Nenita Abad.
In their appeal, the group tried to pin the blame on the municipal-level officials who were supposedly responsible for preparing the master list of beneficiaries.
Despite having signed or initialized the disbursement vouchers, they argued they should not be considered partly liable for the fabrication of the lists unless the COA can come up with proof of conspiracy.
“The movants cannot simply be held personally liable for the disallowance because they were the final approving authority of the questioned transaction. It should be stressed that the officers and employees who processed the master lists were employees of the various LGUs,” the DA regional officials added.
They likewise invoked good faith as a defense, asserting that even mistakes are not automatically actionable if it was not shown that they were attended by malice or gross inexcusable negligence amounting to bad faith.
The COA Commission Proper was not persuaded as it noted that the master lists attached to the disbursement vouchers were tampered and fabricated. Those lists were the principal proof that bags of hybrid corn were actually received by farmer-beneficiaries of the program.
Municipal agriculture officers (MAO) and agricultural technicians all denied having participated in preparing the said lists.
The Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) created by the DA-RFU 2 reported that there was “gross tampering of figures and signatures and fabrication of names in the master lists.”
“They are held liable for their gross negligence in approving the DVs without first verifying the authenticity of the master lists. The movants failed to sufficiently explain why the genuine master lists were not in their possession when the master lists were one of the documentary requirements for the payment of seed subsidy,” the COA added.
It declared that the payment to Asian Hybrid Seed Technology based on tampered and/or fabricated master lists is a clear violation of the rules covering government transactions.
“Thus, the officers who certified that the supporting documents were complete and proper and those who certified that the expenses were necessary and lawful, are liable for the disallowances as their respective certifications were the primary considerations in approving the payment,” the commission pointed out.
