NEW fund anomalies have been unearthed by the Commission on Audit against former Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, this time worth P125 million coming from the Department of the Interior and Local Government and P2.34 million in sports uniforms that were bought through shopping instead of through public bidding.
For these, Hagedorn and his key city officials are facing graft and corruption and malversation charges filed before the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon by taxpayers Gen. Eduardo S. Matillano (retired), Narciso Pangilinan, Antonio G. Lagrada and Wilfredo G. Rama.
Puerto Princesa City was among the local government units adjudged with the seal of good housekeeping by the DILG for which a prize of P125 million in grants was given to it in December 2011.
But the guidelines of the DILG for the fund stipulated its transfer from general fund to trust fund to be used for various projects that include rural electrification, local roads connecting to national roads, arterial farm to market roads and bridges, local economic enterprises, flood control and drainage and to support national projects such as the millennium development goals, Philippine disaster risk reduction and management and solid waste management.
The LGSF shall be used as capital expenditures and augment the approved 2012 Annual Investment Plan for these projects, the guidelines stated.
However, complainants Matillano and Pangilinan said the COA, in an audit observation memorandum dated Feb. 21, 2014, noted that the city did not transfer the LGSF to a trust fund thereby exposing it to misuse in the general fund.
Instead, they said, the LGSF was recorded in the 2012 appropriations as “miscellaneous income under external sources-grants, thereby defeating its purpose of augmenting the implementation of programs, projects and activities (PPAs) under the approved 2012 Annual Investment Plan.
The fund was not transferred to a trust fund but the approved projects and programs submitted by Puerto Princesa to the DILG were also funded by the annual budget, thereby leading to double funding, they added citing the COA report.
The city also failed to submit a report on how it used the fund at the scheduled deadline of one month upon receipt of the LGSF, as stipulated in the DILG memorandum, they added.
The COA said the city officials’ deliberate failure to report where the LGSF was used cast serious doubts that it went to PPAs for the city.
In another case, complainants Lagrada and Rama said the P2.34 million that was used to buy the sports uniform for the MIMAROPARAA in 2012 was bought not through public bidding, as required by law, but through shopping.
They argued that the sports event was well-planned and thus the excuse given by city officials that they did not have enough time to hold a bidding exercise for the uniforms is completely without basis.
The uniforms were acquired from Prudence Garment Manufacturing, the only accredited garments manufacturer of the supplying it for 16 years for all athletic uniforms, when the law required bidding for all public fund purchases.
The COA issued to Hagedorn and other responsible officials a notice of disallowance for said purchase but they appealed it. COA denied the appeal as it could not be convinced of the urgency of such purchase using alternative modes other than public bidding.
Earlier this year, Hagedorn was also charged with graft before the Ombudsman for the P10-million spurious purchases of electric jeepneys and a P3.2-million Ford Expedition, which Hagedorn failed to return to the city but is using for his personal consumption.
The e-jeepneys were supposed to be used to showcase the province’s commitment to renewable energy but is actually being used to shuttle visitors under the tourism program of the province. The fund was supposed to buy 33 electric vehicles but COA ocular inspection yielded only three electric tricycles, one electric mini jeep and one electric jeep that were left (without maintenance) to the elements behind the city coliseum. Two other electric jeeps were parked at the city coliseum and were used to ferry guests and visitors around the city as part of tourism promotion.
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