COA casts doubts on SBMA's P35-B accounts receivables after verification

The Commission on Audit has cast doubt on the P4.1-billion worth of accounts receivables reported by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) in its financial statements for 2015 after it failed to receive any reply from the 87 confirmation letters it sent to residents of housing units and eco-zone locators.

State auditors said they sent letters to 57 housing residents and 30 locators they tried to reach as part of a verification process accounted for P3.5 billion or 85.1 percent of the total account receivables.

"Of 57 correspondences sent to residents, 37 were returned with remarks: ‘no one to receive, abandoned, unlocated, different unit owner, or closed/under SBMA control’ while the remaining 20 mails have no reply. As regards the 30 letters to locators, 11 were returned with comments: ‘company closed/under control of SBMA or no one to receive while 19 did not respond," COA said in its report.

Due to the results of its verification, COA said there was a possibility the trade receivables that the SBMA collected and realized as revenue was “doubtful.”

The agency took the SBMA’s previous management to task for having "failed to support its assertions on the correctness or records and validity of the receivables."

Reacting to the COA’s findings, new SBMA chairman Martin Diño created an eight-man audit team to review the dubious accounts to determine the possible liabilities of certain people and companies.

The audit team, he said, will be authorized to compel the production of documents such as books of accounts, contracts and financial statements, and to interview and take depositions of relevant personnel.

"We will seek the truth and go after those who were responsible for any wrongdoing. We will definitely file charges against them," Diño said.

Aside from the dubious accounts, Diño said he will also look into the P14.1-million worth of cash advances made by former SBMA officials after COA remarked that inadequate documentation of the liquidations "exposed government funds to risks of misappropriation or loss and cast doubt on their regularity."

The COA report identified then senior deputy administrator for support services Ramon Agregado with cash advances of P12.6 million and the deputy administrator for legal Randy Escolango with P299,700.

Also named were tourism department manager Mary Jamelle Camba, with cash advances of P425,700; deputy administrator for administration Fernando De Villa Jr., P451,940; legal department manager Von Rodriguez, 102,065.75; and manager for public health and safety Solomon Jacalne, P63,170. —KBK, GMA News