Audit on Makati City Hall Building II not yet complete, COA clarifies

The Commission on Audit (COA) on Monday clarified that its investigation on the alleged anomalies in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II, also referred as the Makati Parking Building, is not yet complete and may still be subject to changes.

“The Commission on Audit (COA) has not yet completed the audit of the Makati Parking Building II…To clarify, the audit findings quoted in a newspaper are still subject to comments of officials concerned,” COA Public Information Office director Jonathan Beltran said in a press statement.

Beltran was referring to a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) on Monday supposedly detailing several alleged irregularities in the construction of the controversial building as observed by a three-man team from COA tasked to investigate the issue.

The construction of the parking building began in 2007 during the term of Vice President Jejomar Binay as mayor and was continued by his son, Erwin “Junjun” Binay, who succeeded him as the city's chief local executive in 2010.

The report said that based on the 57-page special audit report of the three-man COA team, the construction of the controversial building, which was divided into five phases, was not covered by the city’s annual procurement plan (APP) which was in violation of the government procurement law.

Further, it added that the COA team also found out that the bidding for the project was rigged to favor the contractor Hillmarc’s Corporation and that the money for the construction of the parking building amounting P2.28-billion was part of the bloated supplemental infrastructure funds of the city government for 2007 to 2011 amounting P14.048 billion.

The COA report also supposedly found out that the city government paid P11.974 million to MANA Architecture and Interior Design for its architectural and engineering services for the project, even without the submission of proof of accomplishments.

But Beltran said the findings cited in the newspaper report are still preliminary and supposed to be confidential.

Beltran also said the initial findings were still subject to comments of the parties concerned.

“COA issued audit highlights containing preliminary findings only to the concerned parties. The initial findings of the special audit team are confidential in nature,” Beltran said.

Beltran said that "as part of the audit process," the COA will still have incorporate the comments of the concerned parties in the report.

“To clarify, the audit findings quoted in a newspaper are still subject to comments of officials concerned.  As part of the audit process, the comments shall be incorporated in the final audit report,” Beltran said.

In a text message, Beltran further said that the report would still have to be reviewed by the COA central office’s Fraud Audit Office.

The alleged anomalies in the construction of Makati Parking Building led to the dismissal from office of the younger Binay by the Office of the Ombudsman in October this year.

Also in the same month, the Ombudsman found probable cause to file criminal charges of graft, malversation and falsification of public documents against VP Binay and 22 other officials of the city government over the alleged overpriced construction of the Makati parking building.

Ombudman Conchita Carpio-Morales, however, clarified that the charges against the elder Binay would have to be filed in court after the end of his term as Vice President. — RSJ, GMA News