THE Commission on Audit has issued an en banc decision granting the petition of Filmetrics Corp. against the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) on unpaid services regarding the delivery of Biometrics Data Service Facility in relation to the issuance of postal identification (Postal ID).
COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario Lipana held that the petitioner had submitted sufficient documentary proof to establish PhilPost’s obligation.
However, the COA en banc rejected the total claim of P63.508 million and the compromise agreement between the parties settling on P55 million.
It noted that the P63.508 million claim included P7.81 million that pertains to the Social Security System Unified Multi-Purpose Identification (UMID) Card Biometrics Capture Project, which is still lacking in support documents.
On the other hand, the P55 million agreed in the compromise deal included the 15 percent share of PhilPost in the joint venture revenue, which was equivalent to P8 million.
“The compromise amount appears to be disadvantageous to the government since the computation provided by the parties did not consider the PID Marketing Expenses amounting to P847,310.59… as well as the remuneration to PHLPost of its resources utilized by the JV,” the COA noted.
In support of its claim, Filmetrics submitted certified true copies of its Joint Venture Agreement with PhilPost, the demand letters, certificates of non-payment, as well as photocopies of the extension of the JVA and the Implementing Memorandum of Agreement (IMOA).
While both the JVA and the IMOA have already expired on September 15, 2022 and September 7, 2021, respectively, the commission said the claim may still be granted based on the Supreme Court
“In this case, Filmetrics submitted sufficient documents to establish the validity of the money claim. Thus, this Commission gives due consideration to the claim based on equity and substantial justice, applying the principle of quantum meruit,” the COA said.
