Seafarer school’s library fines reach P5.5 M

MANILA, Philippines - Library fines for 1,139 books borrowed from the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) of Central Luzon but never returned have reached P5.5 million as of 2011, according to a report by the Commission on Audit (COA).

“Records show that some books remained in the possession of the borrowers since 1985. If penalty would be imposed, it would benefit the government of more than P5,535,670, which is a material amount to augment or fund the acquisition of more informative, innovative and updated reference materials that the students needed most,” state auditors said.

COA said 485 books were borrowed more than five years ago and account for P4.6 million of the fines.

State auditors called on the PMMA to enforce a “no library clearance, no graduation policy” after examining library records. Of the 1,139 unreturned books borrowed by teachers, employees and students, “74 books have undetermined due dates.”

The audit team asked the PMMA’s librarian to conduct a physical count of all library books at least once a year.

The COA also directed the school to submit a report showing the books issued to borrowers, date issued, date due, and penalty for late return and exert effort to recover all unreturned books, either by collecting the books or the equivalent costs plus their processing cost.

State auditors said the PMMA registrar should be required to ensure that all midshipmen had already secured a clearance certificate from the librarian before including them in the list of graduates and require all employees and faculty members to secure a clearance certificate before the close of every school year.