THE Commission on Audit has issued separate decisions relieving from liability a supply accountable officer (SAO) of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and a special disbursing officer (SDO) of the Philippine Army (PA) over the loss of government military assets.
Requests for relief filed by PAF SAO Nenita Rogas and PA SDO 1Lt Cherwin Lapura were both granted by the COA Commission Proper, clearing them of any fault in relation to the loss.
Rogas’ request involved a McDonnell Douglas (MD) 520MG helicopter with Tail No. 385 that crashed during a pilot training test on December 15, 1998 in Danilo Atienza Air Base, Sangley Point, Cavite.
Lapura, meanwhile, had custody of the P1.85 million payroll cash for the Army’s 14th Infantry Battalion (14IB), 8th Infantry Division (8ID) when the bag containing the money was taken by New People’s Army rebels during an ambush in Catbalogan City, Samar on November 27, 2015.
While both officers filed their requests for relief belatedly, the COA said their reasons were well-taken because of the attending circumstances.
On board the chopper when it crashed were instructor Capt. Fernyl Buca and student 2Lt Joel Alviar.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Report attributed the mishap to pilot error, saying the instructor did not keep the aircraft at the standard three-foot altitude, allowed the student pilot to have the controls at the early stage, and was late in taking over control when his student started making mistakes.
Rogas noted that she had to wait for the completion of the research and reconstruction of the aircraft’s documents and the PAF’s deliberations for dropping the aircraft from its inventory.
“Considering that Ms. Rogas is a SAO, there is no way that she could have contributed to the loss of the aircraft. Clearly, the loss of aircraft was not due to her fault or negligence,” the COA pointed out.
In Lapura’s case, he was assigned to withdraw the payroll funds and bring it back to the 14IB, 8ID base.
He said there was no civilian vehicle available so he and four other army officers boarded a marked military vehicle for the purpose.
On their way back, they were ambushed by NPA rebels on Maharlika Highway near Barangays Socorro and Lagundi, Catbalogan City.
Two of his companions died when their vehicle hit a landmine while Lapura and two other surviving soldiers managed to crawl into a roadside ditch, where they engaged their attackers even if they were already wounded.
However, they had to jump off from high ground to escape after being overwhelmed by the superior number of attackers, leaving some weapons and the bag of money behind.
Lapura admitted he had trouble complying with the timetable for the filing of the request for relief because he was recuperating from his wounds and had to go on leave to deal with battle stress.
The COA said no fault or negligence can be attributed to the army officer.
“Even if wounded, 1Lt. Lapura and the two others exercised the diligence of a good father of the family in securing the SA (subsistence allowance) and their life, by engaging in a firefight with the members of the NPA. They were, however, overwhelmed by the enemy fire,” the COA pointed out.
