THE Commission on Audit has affirmed the validity of the P100 million seed money advanced by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to the Provident Fund-Individual Housing Program for its officials and employees, setting aside the 2014 finding that it had no legal basis.
In a decision released yesterday, the COA Commission Proper said the DBP management did not violate Presidential Decree No. 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines that prohibits the use of public funds for a private purpose.
The commission said that DBP’s release of the seed money for the Provident Fund falls under the classification of a “public purpose” as defined by the Supreme Court in the 2010 case of Yap vs. COA.
In the said case, the SC said that public purpose is an “elastic concept that can be hammered to fit modern standards” particularly where the objective is to promote social justice even on occasions where only a limited number of persons is benefited.
“Applying the pronouncement in Yap vs. COA, the act of the DBP in advancing the amount of P100 million as seed fund for the establishment of the DBP PF-IHP does not violate the aforementioned provision of PD No. 1445. Thus, DBP’s act of advancing a seed fund in the amount of P100 million for the PF-IHP is authorized by law,” the COA declared.
However, the COA overruled DBP’s contention that the Fund had already acquired beneficial ownership of all the money in it, including the P100 million seed money and the P136.14 million members’ contributions and the bank’s counterpart contributions.
