THE Commission on Audit (COA) has granted a petition filed by Caloocan City Rep. Oscar Malapitan seeking relief from liability in connection with the disallowed transfer of P3.4 million from his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) allocations to a dubious private foundation in 2011.
In an 11-page en banc decision released yesterday, the COA sustained Malapitan’s argument that his endorsement of the Gov. Eunice Guerrero-Cucueco Foundation Inc. was only recommendatory and had no compulsive bearing on the decision of the implementing agency, Technology Resource Center (TRC), to release the money to the NGO.
Records showed that in 2011, the first district of Caloocan City, represented by the lawmaker, received a P4 million allocation under the DAP earmarked for livelihood and development projects.
A memorandum of agreement was signed between the TRC, the private foundation, and Malapitan “to provide training and development to the underprivileged households in the congressman’s legislative district.
Acting on Malapitan’s recommendation, the TRC released P3.4 million to the Gov. Eunice Guerrero-Cucueco Foundation after deducting P400,000 (10 percent) as a retention fee, P100,000 as a management fee, and P100,000 as the cost of livelihood materials.
Auditors issued a disallowance after finding the support document for the transaction insufficient due to lack of official effectivity date on the MOA, non-submission of required liquidation documents, non-compliance with the requirement of the Government Procurement Act (RA 9184) on the selection of an NGO, and submission of photocopies and unauthenticated letters and memorandum as part of the attachments.
On-site inspection of the location of the private foundation proved to be a dud as auditors found that the given address was a residence occupied by a family that had nothing to do with the foundation endorsed by the lawmaker.
Originally held liable together with Malapitan were TRC director general Dennis Cunanan, accounting division chief Marivic Jover, financial planning, management and services division chief Miguel Geronimo, group manager Luzvimindo David, team leader Hernani Yap, and the Gov. Eunice Guerrero-Cucueco Foundation.
In his petition, Malapitan said he should be excluded from liability because he had no control over the selection of the NGO.
He claimed that the TRC, as the implementing agency, was responsible for the selection of the NGO.
“Rep. Malapitan is not the accountable person contemplated by law to be liable for the disallowance. He had no hand in the release of the funds to the Foundation as the same is a responsibility vested upon the TRC,” the Commission said.
Despite having recommended the private foundation, the COA said there was no proof that Malapitan “compelled the TRC to disregard any rules on accreditation and selection of the NGO.
“In fine, the nature of participation of Rep. Malapitan in the disallowed transaction is not sufficient to hold him liable,” the COA added.
