COA seeks probe vs. ex-Nueva Vizcaya gov over P4.8-M hospital equipment purchase

The Commission on Audit (COA) has recommended the investigation of former Nueva Vizcaya governor Luisa Cuaresma and five other provincial officials by the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged irregularities in the procurement of hospital equipment in 2010 amounting to P4.8 million.

In a five-page decision, COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo and Commissioners Jose Fabia and Isabel Agito ordered the COA Prosecution and Litigation Office to forward the result of its audit into the transaction to the Ombudsman “for investigation and filing of appropriate charges, if warranted.”

Also held liable for the supposedly questionable purchase were Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Glen Afan, provincial administrator Manuel Tabora, provincial legal officer Desiderio Perez, supply officer Eilyn Dacuycuy, and officer-in-charge of the Office of the Provincial Treasurer Rhoda Moreno.

Aside from recommending an investigation, the three-member commission proper reversed the June 4, 2012 decision of COA Region 2 granting the appeal of the provincial officials to lift the notice of disallowance originally issued by the audit team on April 10, 2011 after the respondents failed to submit documents required under the notice of suspension issued on November 10, 2010.

The notice of suspension is issued on a government transaction if the documentation is incomplete. Unless the concerned public officials can submit the necessary documents within 90 days, the NS will mature into a notice of disallowance (ND) which will compel them to reimburse the government for the amount disallowed, with possible criminal indictment.

Records showed that the province of Nueva Vizcaya purchased various medical equipment from Medisafe Philippines Inc in 2010, supposedly for the use of the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital.

Auditors, however, found there was no public bidding conducted for the purchase. Provincial General Services Office head Tomas Garra, acting chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), said the transaction did not pass through his office.

The COA reinstated Cuaresma’s liability after ruling that her approval of the BAC resolution awarding the contract to Medisafe was baseless since it was defective due to the absence of Garra’s signature.

The commission proper said the province’s purchase of medical equipment by the province without the required public bidding was in violation of Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

“Public funds expended therefor must be recovered from the payees and/or from the persons who made possible the illegal disbursement, without prejudice to possible criminal prosecution,” COA said.

BAC members Tabora and Perez were deemed liable for the alleged irregular purchase after the audit found the BAC resolution to be “spurious.”

Moreno, meanwhile, was implicated for preparing and signing the check payment without the required signature of the provincial accountant while Afan’s inclusion was based on his failure to take action despite the absence of the signatures of the BAC head and the provincial accountant.

Dacuycuy’s claim of inadvertence in forwarding the BAC resolution to Cuaresma despite the absence of Garra’s signature was given no weight by the COA, which noted that she was aware that no public bidding took place. —ALG,GMA News