THE Commission on Audit has affirmed five notices of disallowance (NDs) issued against the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for spending P1.57 million out of a trust fund meant to improve the living conditions of the Mamanwa tribe of Claver, Surigao del Norte.
The COA en banc overturned the COA Region 13 decision of June 30, 2017 which granted the appeal of the NCIP officials and lifted the disallowance on the ground that the tribal leaders had agreed that the NCIP could use part of the funds for administrative and operating expenses through a memorandum of agreement signed in 2009.
COA chairman Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana held that regardless of what the MOA states, it was wrong for the NCIP to use the money contrary to the purpose of the creation of the trust fund.
The trust fund was created in 2009 after the members of the Ang Madajaw na Panghiusa ng Tribung Mamanwa sa Taganito ug Urbiztondo consented to the construction and operation of a nickel mineral processing plant in their ancestral domain.
In return for the privilege, the Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC) and the Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp (THPAL) agreed to put up P2 million each year to a Trust Account to be established by the NCIP until the termination of the project.
Under the agreement, it was specified that the money would be “exclusively used for Socio-Economic Projects for the indigenous peoples of Surigao del Norte.”
But on March 24, 2014, state auditors issued an Audit Observation Memorandum asking the NCIP Region 13 to explain why P913,240.10 was found to have gone to operating expenses of the agency charged against the trust fund.
In a request dated May 8, 2014, the Tribal Customary Self-Governance Mindanao requested the COA for a special audit of the Mamanwa Trust Fund. This in turn uncovered that another P509,205.79 was likewise used for the operating expenses of NCIP Surigao del Norte.
Initially, auditors issued Notices of Suspension which eventually ripened into Notices of Disallowance after the NCIP failed to comply with the submission of required documents.
Held liable were NCIP Regional Director Pinky Grace Pabelic, former acting RD Dominador Gomez, NCIP Provincial Officer Vicente Baldoza, Office of the Regional Director officer-in-charge Elsie Alejandro, former Finance and Administration Division chief Ligaya de Guzman, and accountant Roselle Corvera.
In separate appeal memoranda filed in December 2016, the NCIP officials challenged the disallowance, saying the utilization of the money drawn against the trust fund was covered by the terms of the MOA.
They likewise submitted an Addendum to the MOA dated September 16, 2016 saying its belated execution was due to their belief that there were already sufficient bases to use the financial assistance for administrative and operating expenses of the NCIP RO 13.
The COA Region 13 director accepted the explanation and granted the appeal resulting in the lifting of the disallowance.
But on review, the COA en banc disagreed, saying the expenses were already covered by the yearly budget of the NCIP under its maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) which made the use of the Trust Fund contrary to Republic Act No. 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1995).
“The administrative and operating expenses of the NCIP, such as the disbursements for traveling expenses, salaries of support personnel, office supplies, office equipment, meals, hotel accommodation for visitors, broadcasting, office rentals, hiring of vehicle, and taxes for goods procured, are not related to the purpose of the fund,” the COA said.
In addition, it pointed out that the NCIP’s decision also violated Presidential Decree No. 1445 (Government Auditing Code of the Philippines).
“Section 4(3) of Presidential Decree No. 1445 provides that trust funds shall be available and may be spent only for the specific purpose for which the trust was created or the funds received,” the Commission said
