Return P139 million in rental payments, NPO execs told

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered five ranking officials of the National Printing Office (NPO) to return to the government a total of P139.459 million the latter paid to 12 private printers in 2017 for lease deals which the audit body found to be illegal.

In a Notice of Disallowance (ND) dated Sept. 6, 2018 released to the media yesterday, the COA said the payments to the 12 private printers covered by 294 disbursement vouchers were illegal, as it violated the government procurement rules.

“The transactions are being disallowed in audit because records of the transactions, upon examination and review, disclosed that the payments made to the private printers under subcontracting is irregular, in violation of Section 4.6 of the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Resolution No. 05-2010,” the COA said in its ND.

The payments, made from January to March 2017, were for the rental of printing machines and equipment of the private printers.

Under Section 4.6 of the GPPB Resolution, the appropriate Recognized Government Printers (RGPs) engaged by the NPO “shall directly undertake the printing services for the contracts entered into, and cannot engage, subcontract or assign any private printer to undertake the performance of the printing services,” according to the COA.

Aside from NPO director Francisco Vales Jr., told to jointly return the disallowed amount were NPO-Financial Management Division acting chief Winifredo Talla; Production, Planning and Control Division acting chief Buenaventura Gonzales Jr.; PPCD officer-in-charge Ruben Dancel and Budget Section officer-in-charge Leah dela Cruz.

Also directed to return the amount were the 12 private printers, namely Advance Computer Forms Inc., Bestforms Inc., Consolidated Paper Products Inc., Eastland Print Ink Inc., Holy Family Printing Corp., J.I. Printers Inc., Mercury International Security Printing Corp., Metrocolor Corp., Nova Business Systems Inc., Tone Guide Press Inc., Triprint Corp. and Western Visayas Printing Corp.

The named persons were given six months to file their appeal on the NDs.

“Audit disallowances not appealed within six months from receipt hereof shall become final and executory as prescribed under Presidential Decree 1445 (Government Auditing Code),” the COA said.

As of yesterday, the COA said no appeal has been filed yet on the ND.