THE AUTHORITY of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) said it is currently “working on a way” to pay its assumed loans to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which stood at P471.45 million based on a report by state auditors.
“The current management of AFAB, led by Administrator Hussein Pangandaman, is currently working on a way moving forward that will address this impasse,” the AFAB said in an e-mailed response on Thursday.
In its 2022 audit report made available on June 27, the Commission on Audit (CoA) said “AFAB did not pay its assumed loan from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)… causing the loan to reach P471.45 million including default charges amounting to P13.45 million by the end of 2022.”
PEZA was the previous operator of the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB).
AFAB also clarified that it was the construction of underground cabling for the FAB electrical distribution system that was implemented by the management in 2022, and not the vessel traffic management system.
They were referring to the CoA report indicating that “only one out of two infrastructure projects were initiated and only 48% of the planned amount or P91.26 million was implemented according to the specified plans and specifications.”
PCO
Meanwhile, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Thursday said it has already taken corrective measures after giving separated officials and employees excessive terminal leave pay.
The Commission on Audit earlier flagged the agency for the overpayment of P25.75 million terminal leave pay without documents and P1.02 million terminal leave benefits (TLBs) without the necessary deductions to its separated employees.
The PCO said it has already issued demand letters to the separated employees, requiring them to refund the overpaid TLBs.
It said it had already claimed the refund of the overpaid TLBs from 38 separated personnel amounting to P824,625.37, “which was already deposited to the Bureau of Treasury.”
The remaining seven separated personnel committed to refund the remaining amount of P203,956.96, it added.
“With regard to the incomplete documents, the Human Resource Development Division has already submitted the Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) of the separated officials and employees to CoA,” the PCO said.
“The Legal Division Chief has likewise previously noted in the clearance forms of the separated officials and personnel that they had no pending administrative cases nor involvement in any pending investigations,” it said. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz and Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
