COA official tagged in flood scam out of the country
MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana, who has repeatedly been named in the flood control anomaly, is out of the country, according to state auditor Tracy Ann Sunico.
Lipana has been twice implicated in the Bulacan flood control kickback scheme, once by former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer Henry Alcantara and a second time by former agency undersecretary Robert Bernardo.
Sunico confirmed that Lipana was outside the country during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Thursday, September 25.
“As far as we know, he is on sick leave. We heard that he was in Singapore,” Sunico said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Asked if the COA had any mechanisms to probe Lipana, Sunico admitted that there was not much to be done, as Lipana was an impeachable officer.
Bernardo said that Lipana approached him, asking to be referred to officers of the DPWH first district. The former undersecretary referred Lipana to then DPWH engineer Brice Hernandez, one of the self-confessed bagmen in the Bulacan kickback scheme.
Alcantara, in a prior statement, said that Lipana allegedly inserted P1.4 billion in the budget from the 2023 and 2025 national budgets, from which he was suspected of getting kickbacks.
On top of the corruption tags, Lipana’s wife is also an executive for government contractor Olympus Mining and Builders Group Philippines Corp. The firm has nine contracts with the DPWH in Bulacan.
COA has been questioned by lawmakers over its ability to check projects, given the seemingly large-scale corruption in Bulacan. Sunico explained this was due to the lack of manpower that the COA had.
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