Not a few were surprised by a newspaper article that appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last Wednesday about the Notice of Disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit against Negros Oriental.
The Notice described as illegal the disbursement of P143 million representing mobilization fees and progress billings paid to seven contractors for the repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of structures damaged by Tropical Storm Sendong and the February 2012 Magnitude 6.9 earthquake that caused substantial damage to life and property in the Province.
The reason cited for the illegality of the deal was because the Province went ahead and spent the money which was earlier sent by the Department of Budget & Management for the purpose by way of a Special Allotment Release Order (Saro).
Before the money could be spent, the DBM had issued a “Negative Saro” in June 2012, effectively taking back the money, saying that there were procedural lapses in the processing of the money.
The Governor had insisted that the DBM erred in withdrawing the Saro, and that this was a mere harassment tool for political ends.
The COA, however, said in effect that while the Governor may be entitled to think that the withdrawal of the Saro was a political move, his decision to proceed with the awarding of contracts totaling P955,122,944.12 without the required Saro is also not right. “The issuance of negative Saros [is] a long-established procedure by which the DBM makes adjustments to previously-released allotments,” the COA said.
True enough, the Notice of Disallowance, which was issued in November last year, became an election issue. The Liberal Party used it “to the max” but failed to inflict damage to Degamo’s candidacy.
There are things which are patently illegal. Some examples of these are murder, stealing, or slander. In this case, concerning Negros Oriental, however, a mere piece of paper can make things right. The question is, if Degamo was with the President’s political party, would he have had this problem?
As Erap once put it, “Weather-weather lang yan.” It was said as a joke.
But with this incident now, the joke may be on all of us — the sitting ducks of the next natural calamity.
