Special audit sought on P31-B Pinatubo funds

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga - The Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) on Mt. Pinatubo agreed yesterday to ask the Commission on Audit (COA) to conduct a special audit of some P31 billion in government funds used for rehabilitation projects in Central Luzon since the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

The committee reached the decision for a special audit after a public hearing here yesterday, presided by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, uncovered alleged anomalies in the purchase of a parcel of land for lahar victims in Zambales.

Angel Paras, finance director of the Mt. Pinatubo Commission (MPC), admitted to the panel that despite the lack of land title, he issued a check for P1.085 million to one Porfirio de Guzman, owner of two parcels of land intended for the MPC's resettlement project in Dampay Salaza, Palauig, Zambales. The title was issued to the MPC only last March.

Paras said he issued the check in confidence that the title would be issued later.

But Rep. Benigno Aquino Jr. of Tarlac and Francis Nepomuceno of Angeles City pointed out that the issuance of the check even before the release of the title was highly irregular.

The JCOC approved Nepomuceno's proposal for a special audit of some P31 billion in government funds used by the defunct Presidential Task Force on Mt. Pinatubo and the MPC for various rehabilitation projects in Central Luzon since the Pinatubo eruption.

MPC executive director Art Sampang, however, said an accounting of the funds has already been done by various agencies, including the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of National Defense, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

But Biazon said an official COA audit was different and necessary amid scandals arising from alleged anomalies that have rocked the presidential task force and the MPC since 1991.

Biazon also received updated reports that as many as 7,000 lahar-displaced families in Central Luzon are still awaiting permanent resettlement.

There are now pending bills in the House and Senate to extend the term of the MPC beyond December this year to enable it to finish its tasks, including the resettlement of lahar victims.

Sampang said funds for the MPC could be obtained from some P287 million which has remained in the hands of its former implementing agencies.