Around P79.162 million worth of
contracts that entered into during the administration of former Governor Zaldy
Ampatuan was recently declared illegal
and irregular by the Commission on Audit (COA).
The COA commission proper affirmed the
2013 results of the Special Audit Office, on anomalies in the supposed
procurement of the P79.16 million worth of “relief goods and office supplies”
contract with only one supplier.
However, the recognized supplier,
Superama, denied having any supply or delivery contract made with the ARMM.
The Ampatuan and other former ARMM
officials filed for petitions for the issue but the
commission proper composed of Chairperson Ma. Gracia M. Pulido-Tan and Commissioners
Heidi L. Mendoza and Jose A. Fabia, denied it. The commission said the
officials were unsuccessful to raise new arguments.
"As borne by the records, (the
notice of disallowance) was issued on the ground that the grant of the cash
advances and utilization thereof were made without due regard to existing laws
and regulations and are therefore considered illegal and irregular," COA
said.
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| Zaldy Ampatuan |
The commission said they found
suspicious the claim that payment was made completely in cash via fund advances
from Adham Patadon, who was a former ARMM supply division chief and special
disbursing officer. SAO findings showed that one cash
advance made during Ampatuan's term reached as high as P5.5 million when a COA round
only allows a limit of P15,000 ($333.85) in fund advances per transaction.
Aside from Ampatuan and Patadon, the COA also
found accountable the Ampatuan’s chief-of-staff Ulama M. Acad, executive
secretary Oscar A. Sampulna, Financial and Budget Management Services director
Batolacongan D. Abdullah, and Financial Audit Analyst III Frederick C.
Dedicatoria.
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