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Commerce Secretary Ramón López said Monday that he had ordered Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) to reconcile its figures with the Department of Finance (DOF) to remit the balance of interest income from funds that a senator said they had been “stationed” at the state company.
In a message from Viber, López, who is also the president of the PITC, also said: “We have no problem [with] remit the balance of interest income obtained from the funds, especially if it is to finance the requirements to face the COVID-19 pandemic. “
“PITC is a government corporation and we have a government-wide approach to fighting the pandemic,” he said.
The Secretary of Finance, Carlos Domínguez III, previously asked López to return the interest earned on the PITC “trust funds” to the national coffers.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has accused the PITC of using “a devious scheme” to illegally hold at least P1 billion in government funds.
‘Recognition’
When asked for comment, Drilon said Lopez, by agreeing to return the balance of the PITC interest earnings to the treasury, acknowledged that such earnings did not legitimately belong to the corporation but to the government.
“The fact that Secretary López has agreed to remit the balance of interest income is an acknowledgment that the main fund, whose investment gave rise to interest income, is not owned by the PITC but by the national government,” he said in a text message to the Inquirer.
“Return on investment income is a legal obligation of PITC, nothing more and nothing less,” said Drilon. –WITH A REPORT FROM DJ YAP INQ
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