SENATORS asked the Department of National Defense (DND) to explain the transfer of billions of pesos of funds from the Armed Forces of the Philippines parked at the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) which have remained unliquidated, according to Commission on Audit (COA).
This includes at least P8.523 billion in funds of the Philippine Army that remain unliquidated or unaccounted for with the PITC, according to Senator Panfilo M. Lacson.
Hearing details of the 2022 budget of the DND late Tuesday, senators also reiterated their intent to strike out any new fund transfers from agencies to the PS-DBM and PITC, described as a “mega parking lot” of state funds that caused dozens of important projects and services to remain untouched through the years even while government kept scouring for scarce resources.
Both agencies, especially PS-DBM, have figured prominently in the current Senate Blue Ribbon inquiry into how P42 billion in pandemic funds were shifted by DOH to PS-DBM, which in turn awarded negotiated contracts to controversial suppliers led by Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
At the marathon Senate deliberations on the proposed 2022 budget bill, Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon recalled a COA report as of December 2020 noting the unliquidated balance of the AFP at PITC amounting to P4.980-billion.
Drilon added this is apart from a still unliquidated P5.2-billion balance of AFP at the PS-DBM.
According to Drilon, this means over P5.2-billion to P10-billion AFP funds are “parked or sleeping at PITC and PS-DBM” even as the national government is having difficulty scouring for funds.
Lacson noted a COA report for fiscal year 2020 listed at least an P8.5-billion balance of the Army at PITC, from total fund transfers amounting to P16 billion.
At that point, Drilon wondered how the AFP can remain complacent in transferring funds to the two agencies, starting in 2017 involving over P2.5 billion yearly fund transfers between AFP and PITC.
The Senate Minority Leader conveyed concerns that the multibillion AFP modernization fund may be transferred to PS-DBM “even as it has no expertise” in vetting and procuring defense materiel, beyond purchasing simple common supplies for government agencies.