NBI arrests PSC employee over alleged P14-M fraud

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested an employee of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) who allegedly credited at least P14.4 million in athletes and coaches’ allowances to his own bank account.

Agents arrested one Paul Michael Ignacio on Tuesday on allegations that he passed off his own payroll account number as the account number of unqualified athletes and coaches he had included in the payroll for years, the NBI said Wednesday.

The NBI said an "initial verification" showed that Ignacio had embezzled over P14.4 million from August 2015 to May 2020. The bureau said agents also found that the employee had included the names of three unqualified coaches and three unqualified athletes in the June 2020 payroll, with P450,150 to be credited into his own account.

Agents "with sufficient evidence on hand" arrested Ignacio in his office at the PSC in Manila, the NBI said. Agents seized his laptop and desktop unit for examination.

The NBI said Ignacio will undergo inquest for qualified theft through falsification of public documents and for a violation of the anti-cybercrime law.

In a statement, NBI Director Eric Distor said the case stemmed from a request from the PSC for assistance in the investigation of suspected fraud committed by an employee.

Distor said the PSC's letter stated that the Land Bank of the Philippines had reached out to the commission regarding "unusual payroll transactions" credited to Ignacio's account.

He said agents found out that Ignacio works at the personnel office to prepare the payroll for the monthly allowance of qualified coaches and athletes and forward it to the Land Bank.

The NBI chief said an initial investigation by Merlita Ibay, officer-in-charge of the executive director's office of the PSC, showed that the employee included the names of unqualified coaches and athletes in the payroll and put his own payroll account number as theirs.

"Some of the payrolls are tampered, meaning he will insert maybe from five to 10, hanggang 15 na mga names ng athletes who were dropped from the rolls,” NBISpecial Action Unit chief Emeterio Donggallo said in a report by John Consulta on 24 Oras.

“‘Yung mga supposed to be allowance nila, i-ma-manipulate niya ‘yung account at papasok doon sa account niyang sarili, sa bank account niya. After eight years, na-master niya ‘yan e, napag-aralan niya ‘yung system,” he added.

Sports commissioner Mon Fernandez confirmed that they have sought the help of the NBI.

"Starting this June pa nga e, ‘yung mga allowances ng athletes ini-slash namin into one half para umabot ‘yung natitirang budget natin sa PSC all the way to December. Mabuti na-discover kaagad ito para matuldukan na lahat ito,” he said.

In a statement, he also said, "Suffice it to say that there were red flags which alerted us, and so we acted accordingly. We hope that we can get to the truth and bring the accountable to justice swiftly." — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas with Julia Mari Ornedo/BM, GMA News