THE Commission on Audit has thrown out the Motion for Reconsideration filed by officials of the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or PagIBIG Fund) Regional Office No. 8 asking to be relieved from liability about the approval of 47 housing loan applications totaling P33.19 million in 2007 to 2009.
In a 10-page en banc resolution released yesterday, the COA swept aside the argument of the PagIBIG officials that they acted in good faith when they processed the loan documents filed by housing developer Ray Zialcita for Villa Perla Subdivision in Barangay Combado, Maasin City in Southern Leyte.
“As public officers who participated in the release of these applications, the movants should have exercised the diligence required in the processing, review, and approval of the loan applications to ensure that all the documents submitted were valid to protect the interest of the government,” the commission said.
Those who sought the lifting of the Notices of Disallowance (NDs) were PagIBIG Fund mortgage loan specialist Raquel Pomida, records officer Emily Pretencio, loans and credit evaluator Rizalito Loreche, and records custodian Mark Anthony Faraon.
The COA said the NDs resulted from the discovery of “irregularities and breach of warranties” relative to the developmental loan applied by Zialcita.
Information about the fraudulent loans surfaced after several PagIBIG members complained to the HDMF-RO8 that they did not avail of the loans in Villa Perla Subdivision.
Verification by the audit team confirmed that 47 approved loan applications for the sum of P33,189,000 were filed under dummy borrowers’ names.
Aside from officials of the housing agency, Zialcita was also held liable.
Auditors said the PagIBIG officials covered by the disallowance failed to conduct post-take-out inspection of properties and post-validation of the borrowers.
All the movants claimed that they had no way of detecting the irregularity of the transactions, particularly the fact that the applicants in the housing loan were dummies.
“This Commission finds the arguments bereft of merit. In this case, Movants Pretencio and Pomida were held liable as they prepared and reviewed the documents which cover the inspection and validation of documents prior to the release of loan take-outs; while movants Loreche and Faraon, as appraisers, were responsible for signing the confirmation of appraisal,” the Commission pointed out.
It said that as officers of PagIBIG, they were expected to exercise due diligence and prudence to prevent payment of the fictitious housing loans and protect the funds from members’ contributions.
“A mere examination of the loan applications will already raise doubts on their authenticity. One of the irregularities observed during audit was that some loan applications appeared to be in the handwriting of one person, and that out of the 79 borrowers, only 13 had the Certificate of Attendance to Seminar-Briefing on Expanded Housing Loan Programs,” the COA noted.
