Puentevella accuses PSC of misplacing BASOC report

MANILA, Philippines - Bacolod Congressman and former Philippine Sports Commission commissioner Monico Puentevella said the Philippine Sports Commission allegedly misplaced his liquidation report on the expenses incurred on the staging of Bacolod side of Southeast Asian Games in November-December 2005.

Puentevella hinted that PSC chairman Harry Angping may have something to do with the demand letters from the Commission on Audit, after two Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) resolutions were filed calling for his (Angping’s) ouster.

“For unknown reasons, during an eight-month period from March to September 2008, the PSC misplaced the liquidation report, alleging that such documents have already been returned to my possession thereby failing to notify this representation of the COA findings,” he said.

The PSC is planning to file a plunder case against Puentevella for his alleged failure to liquidate funds used for the SEAG events in Bacolod.

Puentevella, who also sits as chairman of the House committee on transportation and communications, said he was made to believe all of the requirements for the P50.5 million funding for the Bacolod SEA Games organizing committee (BASOC) were complied with.

“I’m now being forced to put all the pieces together four years after our hosting of the SEA Games, for something that is not my fault, and I’m actually being persecuted in public because of it,” he said in a privilege speech he delivered Wednesday evening.

Puentevella was “surprised” that the resident COA auditor in PSC suddenly issued demand letters last July, like the submission of “receipts and documents that I have already submitted and/or completed.”

“It is very evident that the PSC seems to have misplaced a lot of the receipts and documents included in the liquidation report when it was deemed lost for eight months while in their possession,” he lamented.

He also found it “very irrational and highly irregular” for the PSC to do such, and that neither the PSC chairman nor its legal counsel even had the “courtesy” of signing the documents themselves. “Instead, they had one of their lackeys do it for them.”

“The actions of the PSC chairman certainly reflect the lack of common courtesy and decency. I feel insulted, not because I am an elected public official pilloried by the public, but because I have done my duty and was not neglectful of being a civil servant,” he said.

Puentevella added he even had to spend his personal funds if only for the international event to push through, due to time constraints and delay in the release of fund.

In preparation for the event, they were forced to host it “without timely financial support” from the government, owing to the fact that the funds came in late that could have effectively paralyzed the SEA Games, bringing “national embarrassment and disgrace.”

“BASOC was never given the luxury of time and money. I chose to act decisively and put my personal resources on the line. This was an international commitment, and losing face was not an option,” Puentevella said.