NSAs seek COA guidelines on gov’t funds

Sports officials are sitting down with Commission on Audit (COA) chief Michael Aguinaldo hoping to secure clear guidelines on proper liquidation of financial assistance from the government.

Liquidating financial support from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has been a perennial problem for the close to 50 national sports associations (NSAs).

In its latest report, the PSC under chairman William Ramirez said a little over P100 million in financial assistance (FA) over the past two decades have yet to be liquidated.

Ramirez has repeatedly warned the NSAs that failure to liquidate soon would force the PSC to discontinue direct financial support to the NSAs or could lead to court cases.

Last Tuesday, sports officials attended a House hearing called by Rep. Conrado Estrella III, who heads the committee on youth and sports.

The issue on unliquidated FA came up and sports officials argued that the absence of clear guidelines has led to their failure to properly liquidate.

Some NSAs argued that it’s almost impossible to liquidate cash advances that were disbursed and spent many years ago under previous administrations and signatories who are no longer around.

Estrella then called for an urgent meeting among Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco, the PSC chairman, the COA chief and NSA representatives.

Lawyer Charlie Ho, a member of the POC legal committee, said the COA will have to come up with a manual that would guide the NSAs on how to liquidate.

“There has been a misunderstanding in the process or procedure of liquidation,” he said.

The NSAs who draw financial assistance from the PSC are bound to liquidate in 90 days. While others comply, there are those who fail.