The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) assured the public on Tuesday that it is looking forward to signing a new memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to finally tap P49-million unused fund flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA).
NAPC Secretary and Lead Convener Noel K. Felongco clarified that NAPC has made efforts to engage with Pagcor starting February this year to fully utilize the remaining fund that has lapsed in 2017, or during the term of former NAPC Secretary Liza Maza.
Felongco was appointed to the post by President Duterte last November 2018.
“This is because NAPC strongly believes that this could have been a great help to the poverty-stricken Filipinos as the fund is intended for noble and sensible poverty alleviation projects. This was long before COA released its 2018 report,” read the statement issued by Felongco.
Felongco also confirmed that less than a year after NAPC received the grant from Pagcor, Maza issued a memorandum order directing the temporary stop of further disbursements involving transactions chargeable against the Pagcor funds effective December 2017 as directed by Pagcor itself.
Felongco also said his agency was also able to submit a letter on Monday, May 27, to Pagcor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrea Domingo about the MOA.
“We have clearly stated in the letter that the project implementation did not push through due to the disbursement suspension issued by Pagcor on the remaining funds. Our office will provide Pagcor with the revised copy of the draft MOA for her final review with the attached letter from the Executive Secretary to the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] and the subsequent letter of advice of NCA [notice of cash allocation] issued by the DBM,” read the statement.
Moreover, Felongco said that they were also able to meet with Pagcor’s legal team last week and they have come up with a resolution that they will be drafting a new memorandum to lift the disbursement suspension Pagcor issued for the unutilized fund intended for particular programs and projects.
The unutilized fund, Felongco said, was intended to improve access to free and quality education in Mindanao; sustain livelihood projects through rice milling and marketing facilities in Luzon and Mindanao; implement the integrated coconut livelihood enterprise development in Visayas, roll out the “Talambayan” open data solution for poverty monitoring, which includes data warehousing, upgrading and maintenance of information database.
Last February, NAPC under the helm of Felongco, first sought assistance from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea for the immediate release of the funds after the agency complied with the requirement provided under the Executive Order 338, Series of 1996 and Joint Circular 1-97 of COA, DBM and the Department of Finance.
Last March, Medialdea gave NAPC a copy of the letter addressed to DBM Officer in Charge Janet B. Abuel referring NAPC’s request for the immediate release of the unused fund, which was then currently deposited with the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
NAPC then submitted a letter to Abuel requesting for the release of notice of cash allocation and deposit to the agency’s LandBank MDS (Modified Disbursement System) Trust Account together with the certificate from BTr, proof of receipt of trust or official receipt and the monthly disbursement program for fiscal year 2019.
On April 22, Abuel advised NAPC that DBM has already issued a notice of allocation for the untapped fund to cover trust receipts for the implementation of socioeconomic programs and projects.
In its 2018 audit report, the COA said there was no information on the result of audit of Pagcor nor any instruction as to whether the proposed programs would be continued. COA also said in the same report that it has agreed with NAPC to make representations with Pagcor and request the possible extension of the validity of MOA and if Pagcor denies the request, direct the accountant to return the unutilized amount.