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Poor documentation hampers DOTC search for P65-M 'missing' computers


The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is in the process of looking for the P65-million worth of computers that were unaccounted for during the incumbency of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In a television interview Friday, DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said they are going through all the documents to check if the computers, procured in 2010 during the term of Secretary Leandro Mendoza, indeed went to their intended beneficiaries.

"I give the presumption of regularity to my colleagues that indeed that this was received and delivered to their constituents. Since they will be notified and named, they can also help the department. Sila talagang nakakaalam kung sino pinagbigyan nito," Abaya said in an interview on GMA News TV's "News To Go."

He, however, admitted the "difficulty" of locating these items due to poor documentation and to the fact that they were bought during the previous administration.

"'Yung documentation is lacking. Some have gone through proper documentation and were properly received by an end user. Some, hindi nagtiyaga at nawawala pa. I don't know the current status or the physical presence of all these computers," Abaya said.

A recent Commission on Audit (COA) report said that over 700 computers funded by some lawmakers in 2011 using their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or "pork barrel" were "missing."

The COA said the computers did not have acknowledgement receipts to show that they were indeed delivered to the beneficiaries.

'Big problem'

Abaya said the documentation of these computers could still be corrected once they have been located.

"Kung maayos naman ang pagka-deliver pero may lapse sa documentation, it's a matter of tracing the documentation and requiring the end users na i-acknowledge nila na nasa kanila 'yung computers na ito," he said.

The Cabinet official, however, said there may be a "big problem" if his agency finds out that the computer went to "ghost" beneficiaries.

"If it is not actually delivered, then there will be a problem, but I am currently not in a position to say what is what," Abaya said.

Abaya also said that he feels that these computers were not actually funded through the pork barrel.

"In all likelihood, these are congressional insertions, not PDAF. Generally, di na po pinapadaan sa departamento ang PDAF. The congressman could go straight, spend his PDAF to buy computers and deliver to the benefaciaries, without going through the department," he said. — Andreo Calonzo/KBK, GMA News

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