‘No misuse of victims fund’

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima questioned yesterday a Commission on Audit (COA) report on the alleged misuse of funds for victims of crimes.

In a text message, De Lima said the use of the word “misuse” is not accurate. “It connotes a wrongful act, which does not hold here,” she said.

De Lima said nothing was irregular in the use of P500,000 of the Victims’ Compensation Fund (VCF) for the salaries and honoraria of the DOJ’s Board of Claims (BOC) personnel, purchase of a computer and office supplies and other purposes that the fund was not intended for.

“Our finance guys already discussed this matter with COA officials,” she said.

The heads of the board, Prosecutor General Claro Arellano and Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Miguel Gudio Jr., have justified the expenses based on existing circulars of the Department of Budget and Management and board resolutions, De Lima said.

State auditors have reported that the “management has no reason to maintain/hold the collections or to use it for other purposes, considering that the allotment received by the DOJ for the BOC

Services has still an unexpended balance of P3,744,346.00 as of the year-end.”

The DOJ should remit the existing balance of the VCF amounting to P73.4 million to the national treasury, the COA report added.