Former officials and employees of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. have been found liable for the grant of financial assistance worth P19.27 million to three foundations in 2012.
In a resolution, the three-man CoA-Commission Proper affirmed with finality its previous ruling that denied a motion for reconsideration on the issuances of a final Notice of Disallowance for the payments made to the three foundations.
The COA-CP, in a recent resolution, thumbed down the motion for reconsideration filed by former Pagcor president Ester P. Hernandez, head of the State-run firm’s accounting department.
The motion sought a reversal of the notice of disallowance for the disbursement of P19,275,000 as financial assistance to the Florante Romey Sr. Foundation Inc., Negros Occidental Sports and Cultural Foundation, and MOP Development Foundation Inc.
Hernandez asked the CoA-CP to reconsider the junking of a petition for review she filed against the decision of the CoA Corporate Government Sector Cluster 6 that issued the ND. The appeal for review was junked for being :filed out of time.
In her motion for reconsideration, Hernandez urged CoA to heed her appeal “in the interest of equity and justice.”
The former Pagcor official said that in issuing the ND, CoA violated Presidential Decree 1869 or the Pagcor charter for auditing private corporate funds.
Hernandez stated that CoA “erred in summarily disregarding movant’s substantive defenses raised in the petition for review due to a mere technicality.”
In rejecting the motion for reconsideration, the CoA-CP stated that its procedural rules on the setting of period for filing of appeal “must remain inviolable."
This is to be strictly observed because “it is doctrinally entrenched that the right” and that the person proposing to appeal “must comply with the statute or rules.''
“Furthermore, the perfection of an appeal in a manner and within the period permitted by law is not only mandatory but also jurisdictional and the failure to perfect the appeal renders the judgement of the court final and executory,” the State audit body stressed.
Citing a Philippine Health Insurance Corp. case as a precedent, the CoA-CP stated that the “immutabilty and finality” of the previous decision can no longer be questioned even “if the Pagcor officials and employees acted in good faith.”