Battle brewing over SEAG budget audit

Seven members of the 13-man Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executive board on Thursday pressed the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) for the immediate submission of its audited financial statements for expenses incurred during the country’s hosting of the regional meet last year.

As this developed, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) confirmed also on Thursday that only around P1.4 billion was released to Phisgoc.

PSC Executive Director Guillermo Iroy Jr. substantiated the claim of Phisgoc president/chief operating officer Ramon Suzara that the rest of the P6-billion budget for the Games went through different channels and suppliers to service the needs of the Games.

“The disbursements were straightforward and paid for expenses they were allocated for,’’ Iroy said.

The board members who cited the urgency of the audited financial report are POC chair Steve Hontiveros, first vice president Joey Romasanta, second vice president Col. (ret.) Antonio Jeff Tamayo, treasurer Julian Camacho, auditor Jonne Go and board members Clint Aranas and Robert Mananquil.

Suzara said Phisgoc would finish the financial and operations reports in the coming weeks and submit them to the PSC.

Expected to be the point of contention is how much should Phisgoc really audit. Suzara had earlier said organizers only received a little over P1.4 billion, with the rest of the P6-billion budget split by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)-Procurement Service and the PSC.

According to Iroy, the procurement of various equipment and services were made through the DBM.