A deputy speaker has asked the province of Ilocos Norte to submit to the House of Representatives all the documents on alleged cash advances it had made to purchase vehicles using its share from excise taxes collected from locally produced Virginia-type cigarettes.
In a news statement, Deputy Speaker and Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano of Davao City said original documents showing all the transactions are needed if the province, particularly Gov. Imee Marcos, wants to clear her name.
“She [Marcos] can bring documents along with her to prove her claim that all the transactions related to the purchase were aboveboard and cleared by the COA [Commission on Audit],” Albano said.
“As an elected public official, it behooves Governor Marcos to abide by the highest standards of transparency and accountability. We call on her to attend the next hearing of the committee so that she could prove her claim that all the transactions were aboveboard and cleared by the COA,” the lawmaker added.
However, citing COA officials, Albano said the use of cash advances in government procurement violates provisions of COA Circular 92-382.
“On this aspect alone, Governor Marcos has a lot of explaining to do. She was already in government when this COA circular was issued, so she must have been aware that the use of cash advances are limited only to certain expenses and cannot involve procurement of goods and services amounting to tens of millions of pesos,” Albano said.
In the first hearing held on May 2, the committee members were surprised to learn that all the original documents pertaining to the cash advances for the purchase of the buses and minitrucks were “missing” from the COA storeroom in Ilocos Norte.
The inquiry into the alleged irregularities will resume on July 25. A subpoena has already been issued to Marcos to compel her to attend the hearing.
Albano also questioned why six Ilocos Norte provincial officials and employees involved in facilitating the cash advances, worth P66.45 million, were suddenly afflicted with “collective amnesia” when they testified before the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.
Six provincial executives have been detained at the House since May 29 “for their contemptuous act of giving evasive answers, tantamount to refusal to answer” questions about the money meant for the benefit of tobacco farmers, but supposedly misused as cash advances for the purchase of motor vehicles sans the benefit of competitive public bidding.
The committee earlier cited for contempt and ordered detained at the House premises six officials of the Ilocos Norte, namely, provincial treasurer Josephine Calajate; Encarnacion Gaor and Genedine Jambaro of the Office of the Provincial Treasurer; budget officer Evangeline Tabulog; Bids and Awards Committee Chairman and Provincial Planning and Development Office head Engr. Padro Agcaoili; and Eden Batulayan, OIC of the Provincial Accounting Office.
The committee has been probing the provincial government’s alleged misappropriation of P66.4 million in public funds representing Ilocos Norte’s share of excise-tax collections from locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes, following the filing of resolution by House Majority Leader and PDP-Laban Rep. Rodolfo C. Fariñas Sr. of Ilocos Norte.
Under Republic Act 7171, the 15 percent share of Virginia tobacco-producing provinces shall be allotted for livelihood projects and infrastructure projects as a special support for tobacco farmers.
The lower chamber has already subpoenaed Marcos to its hearing on July 25.
Moreover, Albano said, Marcos’s refusal to appear before the committee and “the silence of these [officials] have only bolstered public perception that there were anomalies involved in the acquisition of the vehicles in three tranches over the 2011-2012 period.”
She added that Marcos’s signatures were on most of the documents pertaining to the cash advances made to procure the buses and minitrucks, from the purchase requests to the obligation requests and even the disbursement vouchers.
1 comment
the Marcos dont know the meaning of honest