THE Commission on Audit has dismissed a P4.8 million claim filed by a fishing firm against the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) for an ammonia leak in one of its cold storage facilities in Davao City that contaminated tuna stocks.
In an eight-page decision, the COA en banc held that the PFDA is not liable to pay compensation to claimant Davseatic Enterprise Company Inc. (DECI) even if the agency’s management had already approved payment to the private firm.
While records established that DECI had leased space in the PFDA facility at the Davao Fish Port Complex, these only covered raw lots, office spaces, and processing areas for sashimi-grade tuna.
The 23,329.24 kilograms of tuna damaged by the ammonia leak on January 29, 2010 was being held in a cold storage room owned by the PFDA, which was not part of the spaces for which it was paying lease.
“As perused from the records, the governing Lease Agreement did not include among the premises leased by PFDA to DECI, the cold storage facility where the tuna products were stored and damaged during the ammonia leak,” the COA noted.
The audit agency said the claimant is not entitled to compensation since placing its tuna stocks in an area not covered by its lease was its own decision.
Instead, the COA questioned the PFDA why a private company was allowed to use a government facility free of lease, noting that there was no record that DECI paid any rent for keeping its tuna in the cold storage room.
“DECI would not have suffered losses if it had not occupied the cold storage room, since it was not even part of the lease agreement. On the other hand, PFDA-DFPC management should not have allowed DECI to occupy the said premises,” the COA said.
It added that the decision to allow DECI to store tuna free of charge in cold storage near drums containing ammonia was an oversight of the Davao Fish Port management and a fault on the part of the private fish company.
That being the case, the COA said it cannot allow such a claim against public funds.
“As to the claim of business losses and interest, this Commission cannot grant the same for lack of jurisdiction. These are unliquidated claims which are beyond the powers of this Commission to adjudicate,” the COA pointed out.
