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COA orders NPO to return P139.46M in ‘irregular’ rental payments


The Commission on Audit has ordered the National Printing Office (NPO) to refund the government the sum of P139.46 million in illegal payments made by the agency for the lease of printers from private companies.

Five high-ranking NPO officials were deemed liable for the transactions, including NPO Director Francisco Vales Jr. for supposedly approving the payments.

Also named in notice of disallowance dated September 6 were acting Finance Management Division chief Winifredo Talla, Production Planning and Control Division acting chief Buenaventura Gonzales, officer-in-charge Ruben Dancel, and Budget Section officer-in-charge Leah Dela Cruz.

"The transactions are being disallowed in audit because records of the transactions, upon examination and review, disclosed that the payments made to the private printers under subcontracting is irregular, in violation of Section 4.6 of the Government Procurement Policy Board," the COA said.

The three-page notice covers 294 disbursement vouchers and the corresponding rental fees for the leased printing machines from 12 private printers for the period of January to March 2017.

The commission also included the private printers among those liable to return the P139.46 million. These companies include the following:

  • Advance Computer Forms Incorporated
  • Bestforms Incorporated
  • Consolidated Paper Products Incorporated
  • Eastland Print Ink Incorporated
  • Holy Family Printing Corporation
  • JI Printers Incorporated
  • Mercury International Security Printing Corporation
  • Metrocolor Corporation
  • Nova Business Systems Incorporated
  • Tone Guide Press Incorporated
  • Triprint Corporation
  • Western Visayas Printing Corporation

The COA said Holy Family Printing Corporation received the largest share of rental payments worth P38 million, followed by Nova Business Systems Inc. which received P28.45 million, and Western Visayas Printing Corporation with P25.5 million.

Consolidated Paper Products Inc., on the other hand, received the leased rental fees from the NPO with P49,542.86.

The COA urged the NPO to direct the concerned officials and companies to settle the disallowed amount immediately. It also said failure to appeal the COA decision within six months renders the notice final and executory. — MDM, GMA News

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