The head office of the Commission on Audit in Manila remained mum yesterday on its reported approval of the Negros Occidental provincial government contracts for the sale and lease of its 7.7-hectare prime property in Bacolod City to AyalaLand Inc. in mid-August .

The DAILY STAR yesterday tried to interview COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza, OIC head of the Commission, while its chairman, Ma. Gracia Pulido Tan, is abroad.

The secretary at Mendoza’s office, however, said all interviews had to pass through their Public Information Office so the COA chairman could be informed.

It was not clear why the COA is being evasive on the matter and appears to lack transparency.

A STAR source on Tuesday said COA Commissioners Mendoza and Juanito Espino Jr. had approved the contracts in mid-August yet, with Tan having inhibited herself from the decision.

Director Rolando Macale, head of the COA Public Information Office, confirmed that a decision had indeed been reached by the commission proper, but he was not in the position to divulge if it was an approval or a rejection.

It has to be signed by the two commissioners and Tan, who is expected to return Friday, but he could not say when it will be released, Macale said.

The provincial government sent the contracts for the sale and lease of the property to the COA for review in July last year yet.

“The COA has never taken this long to review a contract as far as I know, I wonder why there has been so much delay in the case of Ayala,” a STAR source had said.

Meanwhile, Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez said that once the provincial government receives the COA-approved contracts they will have to be ratified by the Negros Occidental Sanggunian.*CPG

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