THE Commission on Audit has cleared six Meycauayan City officials and a private individual previously held liable in the disallowed payment of P69.25 million for a parcel of land purchased in 2008 to be used as the site of the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) project in Pajo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.
In a nine-page decision, the COA en banc lifted the notice of disallowance issued in 2015 and cleared City Appraisal Committee members Carlos Abacan, Jose Yazon Jr., Mario Aguirre, Evelina Priolo, Annabelle Urbano, and Carmelita Mariano and lot owner Manolito Ipapo.
Auditors had previously said the city paid P1,600 per square meter of the two lots with a total area of 43,282 square meters, but a special audit team dispatched by the Fraud Audit Office determined that the correct valuation should have been only P1,255.26 per sqm or P54.33 million for the whole property.
By the audit team’s computations, the excess payment amounted to P14,921,036.68 using the International Valuation Standard, 2007, 8th Edition.
In their motion for reconsideration however, the city officials concerned were able to present the basis for their computation of the land valuation, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Zonal Valuation, Prevailing schedule of Fair Market Value, duly approved by Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bulacan, Conditional Sale of land parcel similarly situated, and the asking price of the lot owner in his 2007 letter.
The COA said this constituted sufficient proof that the cost assessment was carefully studied.
“This Commission, however, rules that the finding of overpricing is not conclusive. In the absence of a clear violation of the law and rules, the method used by CAC in arriving at the valuation of Pl,561.00 per sqm should enjoy the presumption of regularity,” the commission said.
