By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

SENATOR Ben Pangelinan, D-Barrigada, yesterday asked the Attorney General’s Office to look into the “missing” $4 million that the administration withdrew last year from the Bank of Guam.
The withdrawn funds were supposed to be used for partial payment of retirees’ cost of living allowance but, so far, no COLA checks have been issued, Pangelinan said.
But the governor’s office said although the money didn’t go to members of the class action suit — the intended recipients — it was used to pay “retirees their annual COLA payment.”
According to documents that Pangelinan obtained from the Department of Administration, the $4 million was released by Bank of Guam from two special accounts on Nov. 1, 2006, acting on the administration’s request.
Bank of Guam disbursed $2 million from the Government of Guam’s Highway Construction Fund, Series 1985 and another $2 million from the Limited Obligation Highway Refunding Bonds, Series 2001A.
Documents indicate that the withdrawn funds were transferred to the government treasury “for COLA payments.”
“As you know, there have not been any COLA payments made to recipients as of today,” Pangelinan stated in his letter to Attorney General Alicia Limtiaco, asking for a full investigation of the matter.
“COLA recipients wait patiently for their money with no real solution from this administration. To find out that there was $4 million taken from two different accounts that were supposed to pay COLAs and there are still no COLA payments is part of the continuing pattern of fraud perpetrated upon the retirees by the governor,” Pangelinan said.
The withdrawal and deposit of funds was certified by Gov. Felix P. Camacho, Department of Administration director Lou Perez, and Department of Public Works director Larry Perez.
In a separate letter, Pangelinan asked the governor to “either use the funds withdrawn for the purpose” or “ explain to the retirees and the people what you have done with the money.”
Shawn Gumataotao, special assistant to the governor, explained that “the funds were originally intended to pay for the COLA awarded to eligible retirees in the Superior Court case.”
However, he said, the administration realized that it would not be possible to pay the court case retirees because at the time the money was withdrawn, the court had not yet determined the amount of COLA owed to the recipients.
“So, in the absence of an approved judgment, the money was used to pay all retirees for their annual COLA payment,” Gumataotao said.
Superior Court Judge Arthur Barcinas came up with a figure and issued a final judgment on Nov. 21, 2006.
The Legislature and the administration scrambled to find the money to pay the judgment award after the Superior Court awarded $123 million to retirees who have been owed their COLA for 16 years.
In November last year, the governor signed a bill that would authorize him to use the remaining balances available in the Territorial Highway Construction Fund, the GTA Privatization Fund, the Interim Transition Coordinating Committee Fund, and the Tourist Attraction Fund Construction Fund for partial COLA payments. The four special accounts were estimated to maintain a combined balance of $23 million.
Pangelinan earlier this year asked the administration to account for the $23 million but nothing has been heard about the COLA payment law since it was signed by the governor before the November election.