Thanks to the Commission on Audit (COA), we know that officials of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) saw fit to build a P10.8-million infinity pool at their training center in a coastal village in San Fernando City, La Union—in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their report, state auditors said the construction of the infinity pool, in which water flows over one or more edges to produce a visual effect of water with no boundary, was “improper and wasteful” and also led to the demolition of a year-old canopy and a portion of a newly constructed perimeter fence at the PPA Training Center Compound.
Completed in November, the pool and guest room at the PPA were part of a “new priority project” of the northern Luzon unit of the PPA’s Port Management Office.
Auditors pointed out that the pool, guest room, a pergola, and a decorative wall seemed to have little to do with the PPA’s mission “provide modern, sustainable and resilient port infrastructures and facilities,” and its vision was to “provide port facilities and services at par with global best practices.”
In an attempt to justify the use of public funds to build a fancy swimming pool, PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said the refurbishing of its San Ferando, La Union training center was aimed at reducing expenses “incurred during management meetings and planning sessions as well as other seminars required for PPA employees.”
“Annually, PPA is spending a significant amount of its budget in paying for rental fees on venues for organizational events, conferences, and planning sessions, among others,” Santiago said. “With this improved training facility, it will provide the agency further financial flexibility as most training, events, conferences, and the like requiring offsite venues can now be held in the agency-owned training facility.”
Because the PPA statement offered no figures, we can only guess at what constitutes “a significant amount of its budget.” But we do question if a regulatory body such as the PPA really needs to spend that much money on meetings, planning sessions and seminars.
Perhaps this can be a focus of their next management meeting, as they float in the tranquility of their infinity pool built at our expense.
Meanwhile, also thanks to the COA, we know that a deputy administrator at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) bought sanitary napkins, hygiene kits, and thermal scanners worth almost P1 million from a construction and trading store in Pasay City, which cannot be located through the address found on its receipt.
State auditors also pointed out that the sanitary pads bought were four times what they cost at any sari-sari store, and that the 50 thermal scanners bought for P2,950 each were four times more expensive compared to models available online.
None of these questionable transactions—involving taxpayers money—would ever have come to light if President Duterte had his way and the COA kept quiet about its findings. In his eagerness to defend members of his inner circle, the President—who attacks the COA for doing its job and who has told his Cabinet members to simply ignore its findings—has clearly lost sight of his own campaign promise six years ago to give us a transparent government as a way of eradicating official corruption and enforcing accountability.
Perhaps he too needs to contemplate all this in the tranquility of an infinity pool.