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SEN. Mar
Roxas wants to undertake a more thorough scrutiny of
government contracts, particularly Overseas Development
Assistance (ODA)-funded projects, after the Commission
on Audit found instances of overpricing, noncompletion
and unliquidated cash advances amounting to billions of
pesos.
He said
a COA report showed commitments for 301 ODA loans as of
end-2006 amounted to almost $10 billion, or more than
P860 billion. Of these, P107 billion worth of loans were
canceled and P102 million were suspended for
noncompliance with procurement rules.
According to the COA report, involved in these loans
were “unnecessary and overpriced” land acquisitions that
cost more than P36 billion; double-recording, unrecorded
or erroneous transactions that resulted in a net
overstatement of P2.6 billion; unliquidated cash
advances and fund transfers amounting to P1.56 billion;
“irregular, unnecessary and uneconomical use of funds”
worth P475 million; and P13.6 million worth of
“excessive and defective” school implements, among
others.
“Is
overpricing the norm? We’re not talking of loose change
here—this is our people’s money in the billions of
dollars apparently being stolen or frivolously spent,”
Roxas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and
Commerce, said over the weekend.
“We
should heed the COA’s recommendation for a thorough
review of the process by which ODA funds are used and
approved.”
He noted
the Senate has set in motion a review of the ODA-funded
projects in the wake of the chamber’s ongoing inquiry
into the anomalous $329-million national broadband
network project awarded to Zhong Xing Telecom Equipment
Co. Ltd. that President Arroyo aborted following a
full-blown scandal.
Roxas
acknowledged that while the necessary checks are in
place to ensure transparency and fairness in government
procurement, there are certain “exceptions to the rule”
that eventually become loopholes, where billions in
anomalous transactions leak through.
“Billions of anomalous ODA projects go to unqualified
and undeserving parties, and the government doesn’t
care. Yet it refuses to give to the drivers, housewives
and consumers the P4 per liter of diesel, or P65 per
11-kilo tank of LPG that they could obtain if we just
suspend the value-added tax on oil,” said Roxas in
Filipino.
He had
earlier filed Senate Bill (SB) 1793 to enforce the rule
that even executive agreements are subject to public
bidding, and SB 1794, to tighten rules on ODA loans and
requiring all ODA-funded projects to undergo Senate
ratification. |
