THE Commission on Audit has ordered the exclusion of Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez from liability in the disallowed release of P2 million from his Priority Development Assistant Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel allocation in 2008.
The ruling released last week was based on a forensic examination conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on the lawmaker’s signatures in various documents relative to the transaction.
In its Questioned Document Report dated October 27, 2014, the NBI said its handwriting examination and comparison of the real signature of the legislator and those appearing on the challenged documents showed they “were not written by one and the same person.”
Rodriguez had sought the NBI’s help after being included by government auditors in the list of persons held liable in relation to the PDAF transfer to the Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI), a non-government organization (NGO) allegedly created by businesswoman Janet Napoles, who is facing multiple plunder and corruption charges before the Sandiganbayan because of the multi-billion-peso PDAF scam.
“While the findings in the NBI report are merely recommendatory in nature, it stands as evidence nonetheless. In the absence of any other evidence to the contrary …the NBI report is entitled to the presumption of regularity and cannot just be dismissed,” the commission said.
Rodriguez’s name appeared in the 2013 special audit of PDAF releases of various congressmen and senators from 2007 to 2009 totaling P79.878 billion.
Auditors said P2 million from the lawmaker’s PDAF was released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the Technology Resource Center (TRC) on February 1, 2008.
Out of the said amount, P1.8 million was received by PSDFI while TRC withheld P200,000 to cover its five percent service fee and other expenses for providing “technical assistance and learning materials.”
The COA questioned why PSDFI, an NGO with given address on Magsaysay corner Delos Reyes Streets, AFP Village in Taguig City, was chosen to implement a project for the Second Legislative District of Cagayan de Oro City.
In his appeal filed in 2015, Rodriguez said the signatures appearing on the documents in support of the transaction were all forgeries.
Among the questioned documents were the certificate of completion, letter of liquidation, accomplishment report, delivery report, and the memorandum of agreement.
Rodriguez argued that being forgeries, he had no knowledge of the transactions nor had any participation.
Warning that the ruling should not be taken as a precedent for other PDAF cases, the COA said the lack of evidence to justify the inclusion of Rodriguez in the notice of disallowance entitles him to be absolved.
