SBMA funds “lawfully spent” in shift to investment hub, says Gordon lawyer

The more than P141 million Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) fund allegedly disallowed by the Commission on Audit from 1993 to 1996 had been “lawfully spent” and accounted for to convert the former US naval base into an investment hub, Senator Richard Gordon’s lawyer said on Wednesday.

Atty. Anacleto Diaz made the statement amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that the COA had disallowed some P146.8 million expenses which was made during Gordon’s stint as SMBA chairman.

He said the order for the collection of the P140.7 million, representing disallowed expenses charged to former SBMA officials, cannot be demanded due to lack of factual, legal, and equitable grounds.

Citing COA Circular 94-001 as adopted by the Supreme Court, Diaz argued that Gordon was not an accountable officer whose duty permitted or required him to have possession and custody of SBMA’s funds or property.

Diaz disclosed that he had written SBMA Administrator Wilma Eisma last October 27 a letter, hoping that the SBMA will “cease and desist from pursuing its demand against our client as well as other officials of SBMA similarly situated.”

According to Gordon’s lawyer, SBMA documents can show that the PhP140,742,086.37 was used for the procurement of its network and telecommunications equipment, the payroll of thousands of employees, and the payment for the Balikatan volunteers’ meals in compliance with the SBMA’s mandate.

“SBMA’s own records show disbursements for the volunteers who guarded the facilities and equipment of the Subic Naval Base to prevent the looting and pillage that happened in Clark Air Base when the Americans also withdrew from that Base, where even bathroom and toilet fixtures were stolen,” he said.

He also noted that more than 8,000 individuals had volunteered to secure, preserve and maintain the properties and facilities of the base left by the US Navy. This includes the forest and the waters surrounded the Subic Naval Base.

“The disallowed amount served as the precursor to SBMA’s premier status as a catalyst of economic growth, employment opportunities and preferred hub for local-foreign direct investments, which benefited not just the SBMA, but also the residents of the Bataan-Olongapo-Zambales area,” he said.

“To thus require our client and the SBMA officials who may have disbursed funds for the 8,000 or so volunteers who guarded and preserved the assets of SBMA during its infancy would be ingratitude running roughshod,” he added.

Moreover, Diaz said the purchase of US Navy properties and equipment in the Subic Naval base were “most favorable” to the government "which paid 10 cents to every USD1 for these properties and equipment.”

“The details of these purchases, including the payments to the US Treasury, show beyond doubt that the sums claimed in the demand were not pocketed by Senator Gordon and other officials of SBMA; most of them are still there being used for SBMA purposes and for everyone to see,” he stressed.

Apart from that, Diaz said Gordon as well as other former SBMA officials have never received Notices of Suspension despite the lapse of 23 years and after the COA resolutions became final and executory.

He added that Gordon and former SBMA officials were never named as a party in the COA and Supreme Court proceedings, notably on the Notice of Finality of Decision or COA Order of Execution.

In his latest public address aired Tuesday night, Duterte accused Gordon of malversation of funds after his supposed failure to act on the COA disallowance.

In September, Duterte ordered the Office of the Solicitor General to tell COA to collect P140 million in government funds from Gordon over his past chairmanship of the SBMA.

The president made the demand amid the Senate investigation into the alleged government’s overpriced procurement of COVID-19 supplies.

The Senate blue ribbon committee, which investigates the matter, is chaired by Gordon.—LDF, GMA News