THE Commission on Audit has junked the petition of two government officials from Zamboanga del Norte for the illegal transfer of a P4.713-million Priority Development Assistance Fund of former senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada.
In a March resolution, the Commission dismissed the plea of then president Salvador Salacup and former treasurer Eduardo Nolasco of the Zamboanga del Norte Agricultural College Rubber Estate Corp. to clear them from any liability in the transaction.
They defended themselves, saying they just acted in good faith for allowing the project implementation since they were not in the position to control the fund utilization, and that the board of directors authorized the implementation.
Despite the respondents’ assertion that they just relied on Estrada’s endorsement and the scrutiny of their subordinates, CoA still blamed them for failure to assess the P4.713-million project for the farmers in Lamitan, Basilan through Pangkabuhayan Foundation Inc.
The pork barrel-funded Lamitan project did not have supporting documents to prove the project implementation, and had no other vital documents, such as a memorandum of agreement between the government-run firm and foundation, disclosure by the foundation of related business and structure of ownership, work and financial plan, disbursement vouchers and other related financial paper, and liquidation report on how Estrada’s PDAF was used.
In 2013, CoA called the attention of Salacup, Nolasco and the foundation’s representative for lack of dossiers, and disallowed the project and required the refund of the PDAF over the respondents’ failure to submit the required documents.