G.R. No. 210314 - BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS, VS. THE COMMISSION ON AUDIT.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, the Supervising Auditor - BSP is hereby directed to issue the necessary Notice of Charge to enforce the collection of the understated dividend from the BSP. [28] (Emphasis supplied) Aggrieved, the BSP filed a motion for reconsideration, which was denied by the COA on January 25, 2011 through Resolution No. 2011-007. [29] In the said resolution, the COA recognized the settlement between the respective heads of the COA, the Department of Finance (DOF), and the BSP for the dividends covered by the period of 2003 to 2006, which pegged the amount of payable dividends at P9.312 billion. [30] However, aside from recognizing the settlement for 2003 to 2006, the COA also declared that for 2007 onwards, the BSP may not deduct reserves from its net earnings for 2007 onwards, in line with its ruling that there was an implied repeal of Section 43 of RA 7653: This Commission agrees only insofar as the unremitted amount stated in AOM Nos. RMS 2006-02 and FSAT-DP-AO-2007-02 are concerned, but not as to the bases of the findings stated therein. It is maintained that said AOMs and the assailed COA Decision No. 2010-042 shall stand. Thus, for subsequent years, that is, for the years 2007 onwards, the BSP must compute the net earnings for purposes of dividends to be remitted to the NG undiminished by any reserve for whatever purpose. Additionally, only those allowed in Section 34, NIRC, shall be deducted from its gross income consistent with the view that R.A. No. 7653 was partly repealed by R.A. No. 7656. WHEREFORE , in view of the foregoing considerations, this Commission hereby AFFIRMS Decision No. 2010-042 dated March 23, 2010. Accordingly, no reserve for whatever purpose shall be allowed to be deducted from BSP's net earnings/income in the computation of dividends to be remitted to the NG. However, for the years 2003 to 2006, this Commission interposes no objection to the agreement between the BSP and the DOF, in the presence of the DBM Secretary and the Senate Chairman of the Committee on Finance, that the BSP shall remit the NG dividends in the amount of only P9.312 billion, subject to the submission of the duly signed Agreement of the parties concerned to form part of the record of the herein case. [31] (Emphasis supplied) On January 27, 2011, the BSP, the COA and the DOF formally executed a Memorandum of Agreement [32] (MOA) reflecting their prior agreement to settle the amount of payable dividends for the period of 2003 to 2006. [33] Accordingly, the BSP remitted the amount of P9.312 billion to the government on January 31, 2011. [34] In the MOA, the parties also agreed to "diligently work towards a mutually acceptable and legal arrangement for the subsequent dividend payments and the account settlement[s] consistent with the above agreements between BSP and DOF and with due regard to the BSP's unique functions and responsibilities as central monetary authority of the country[.]" [35] In its July 15, 2011 Letter, [36] the COA informed the BSP