THE Commission on Audit has approved a P176.18 million claim filed by the National Food Authority (NFA) against the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) for unpaid 317,554 sacks of rice drawn from its warehouses.
In a decision released yesterday, the COA Commission Proper held that the NFA is entitled to payment since the claim was amply supported by the necessary documentations, including warehouse stock issue receipts, NFA statement of accounts, and a certification from the OCD that it has unsettled accounts with the agency.
Former NFA administrator Jason Aquino filed the petition for money claim with the COA in 2018 based on the recommendation of then Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to ensure that the settlement of the claim will go through the required processes.
Records showed that the NDRRMC took 317,554 sacks of rice worth P279.53 million from NFA warehouses between 2002 to 2010. However, it has only paid the grains agency a total of P100.5 million as of December 2011.
The NFA has sent several letters to the OCD, the implementing arm of the NDRRMC, requesting for release of payment on the balance but the transaction hit a hitch because the records of previous payments do not match.
“Although the NFA presented documents for the unpaid balance of P179,029,237.50, the documents were not sufficient to request this amount from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM),” the COA said.
In November 2017, Defense Secretary and NDRRMC chairman Delfin Lorenzana requested the DBM for an allocation of P176.18 million to pay OCD’s obligation to the NFA, noting that P2.85 million equivalent to 1,772 sacks is still subject to validation.
Diokno advised Lorenzana and the NFA that the latter should petition the COA to review its claim.
Instead of filing an answer to the NFA petition, the OCD simply filed a manifestation acknowledging that it still owes the agency for grains acquired as part of its operations to deliver food and relief supplies to calamity-stricken communities in the country.
“Considering that there were actual deliveries of sacks of rice from 2006 to 2010 amounting to P176,178,800.00, the ATL (audit team leader) and the OIC-SA (supervising auditor) interposed no objection to the payment of the money claim subject to the usual government accounting and auditing rules and regulations,” the COA noted.
