Drilon laments 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' approach to PITC
The senator also says gov't should heed the call of Finance Secretary Dominguez for the return of P33.3 B 'parked' funds

Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon lamented how the government is treating the inefficiencies and obvious shady schemes perpetuated by the Philippine International Trade Center (PITC0 with "kid gloves."

Drilon said Malacanang's approach to the issue of PITC's violations of auditing and procurement rules is "poor" and lacks "teeth".

"The response is rather 'soft'. They are treating the issue with 'kid gloves.' Maybe they have not realized yet the gravity of violations committed by the PITC," Drilon said in a statement Wednesday.

He issued the statement as Malacanang ordered a review of the undelivered projects to the tune of over P33 billion "parked" with the PITC, a small trading firm attached to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

"This is a see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil' approach," he added.

Drilon said the government should heed the call of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez for the immediate return of P33.3 billion, lodged with PITC, to provide money to the cash-strapped government in order to respond to Covid-19 pandemic and the onslaught from three devastating typhoons that hit the country last month.

The minority leader, who first brought out the multi-billion schemes perpetuated by PITC over a decade, reiterated that the funds should instead be returned to the national coffers as recommended by the head of the economic team. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. "The finance secretary and the Commission on Audit (COA), in its report, had already concluded that the funds being held in trust by PITC should be returned to the source agencies. Moreover, the interest income earned from the trust should be remitted to the national treasury pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines," Drilon pointed out.

Aside from violations of auditing rules and circumvention of procurement laws, the scheme that has allowed the PITC to park around P33.3 billion from source agencies and illegally keep over P1 billion in interest income is also "a clear violation of the President's own executive order, EO 91, signed in 2019, which provides to the country's shift to cash budgeting system."

Under Section 1 of Duterte's EO, it says that "all authorized appropriations shall be available for obligation and disbursement only until the end of each fiscal year" and "that obligations incurred by the National Government within each FY (fiscal year) shall be implemented during the same FY. Goods and services corresponding to said obligations shall be delivered or rendered, inspected and accepted by the end of each fiscal year."

Drilon said it is clear that PITC can no longer deliver the products and services, citing that undelivered items go as far back as 2007.

The senator also said that it is misleading to say that the PITC can keep the interest earned from the P33 billion transferred to it by several agencies.

Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque was quoted to have said that the PITC has the legal right to keep 50 percent of interest income.

In his virtual press briefing, Roque said: "Naanunsiyo na po ni Secretary (Ramon) Lopez na bagama't sa legal charter po ng PITC ay pupuwede nilang kunin iyong interest doon sa P33 billion at ang binibigay lang ngayon sa national government ay 50 percent...ibibigay na nila 100 percent na interes na tinubo ng 33 billion." Pursuant to Section 65 of Presidential Decree No. 1445, or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, all interest earning of the fund transfers must be remitted to the national treasury," according to the former justice secretary.

"That is not theirs to keep in the first place. The Dividend Law does not apply here, as these are not funds of the corporation. These are the interest income of the money of the agencies. It should not form part of the corporate funds where the dividends are computed," Drilon said.

"Again, this is only one of the manipulative schemes of PITC. We will unearth more of these shady schemes when the Senate investigates this," he added.

The Senate Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises, headed by Sen. Richard Gordon, is set to conduct a hearing on PITC after Drilon delivered a privilege speech detailing a series of violations committed by the trading firm that is tasked to procure P20 billion worth of vaccines.