THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) refuses to fund the insurance of historical/cultural artifacts and works of art in Intramuros, such that the Commission on Audit (COA) called the attention of the government agency administering the Walled City.
Intramuros Administrator lawyer Guiller Asido told the BusinessMirror, “We wrote DBM several times and requested a budget, but they will not provide for it. This is actually a problem not just of IA [Intramuros Administration] but other agencies as well. We have to get an appraiser, whom we will have to pay 1 percent of the appraised value. But appraisers do not want to even work for the government because they will have to register themselves.”
In its report, COA told the IA, “Coordinate with other agencies like the National Museum of the Philippines [NMP] or Cultural Center of the Philippines” on how they appraise and insure their works of art and archeological specimens.
In a letter to the COA audit team on April 26, 2021, however, Asido disclosed, “We had coordinated with NMP and we were informed that their works of art were not insured, but only their buildings due to cost entails of the premiums. They had not engaged any appraiser as well.”
P8-M insurance proposed
But he informed the audit team, in IA’s proposed P268.3-million budget for 2022, “We have earmarked the amount of P8 million for the insurance of these properties and for possible engagement of an appraiser too fully comply with your recommendation.”
Asido told this reporter, the same amount was also included in IA’s previous years’ budget proposals sent to the DBM. In its P248.7-million proposed budget proposal for the 2021 appropriations, for instance, IA included an allocation for insurance, but the DBM even cut the agency’s budget to P90.3 million in 2021, versus P188.83 million in 2020.
The IA chief added, “Even COA has the same problems but we are caring for it [artwork] more properly since there are no reports of missing works.” He explained the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which can insure the Intramuros artwork, also doesn’t have its own appraisers, “They usually bid it out as well.” Moreover, Asido said, “We asked for the budget for an appraiser as well, DBM did not accept it.”
Despite COA’s observation, the IA “got the highest opinion—unmodified or unqualified for the third straight year—the first time in [the agency’s] history,” he underscored.
COA report
According to the COA report on IA’s financial standing in 2020, “The IA’s insurable properties with carrying value of [some P234.03 million] as of December 31, 2020, were not adequately covered/insured with the General Insurance Fund of the [GSIS], exposing the subject properties to the risks of non-indemnification in cases of damage/loss to properties due to fortuitous events or other casualty. Also, the management was not able to properly assess and evaluate the appraised value of antique items due to the absence of an appraiser resulting in the inability to determine the cost of insurance premiums.”
COA also recommended IA management to: “[Make] representation with the DBM to allocate funds and incorporate in the annual budget of the agency the amount necessary to cover the increase in premium relative to the additional insurance coverage for all its insurable properties with the General Insurance Fund of the GSIS…; and instruct the General Services Division to implement [the] timely renewal of insurance policies for all agency’s insurable properties despite the challenges of the pandemic to avoid any unnecessary losses due to non-indemnification in the event of direct physical loss or damage from any external cause.”