THE Commission on Audit found out the “excessive, wasteful, unnecessary, irregular, immoderate, improbable, and outrageous” fuel consumption of the 37 heavy equipment of the provincial government of Nueva Viscaya in 2022.

Audit reports showed that the consumed fuel totalled to 261,669 liter amounting to p14.314 million.

And based on details of the audit findings released on May 12, 2023, they might as well add mystical and magic into the mix, COA also said.

According to documents obtained by the audit team, in Nueva Vizcaya, a massive dump truck and a multi-ton road roller can be in two places on the same hour on several days. What’s more it happened to two drivers.

The equipment daily utilization form for Dump Truck No. 31 showed that on October 11 to 14, 2022 it was operating on “disposal of waste soil” at the Dupax del Sur–Liyo-Carolotan Road.

On the other hand, a second form was also “hauling aggregates” at another project in Sinapaoan-Bantinan-Canabuan Road, on exactly the same days.

Even the hours rendered were identical: 7 hours in October 11; 8 hours in October 12 and 13; and 7.5 hours in October 14, COA discovered.

At both locations, the same name (Alexander Cagurangan) was listed as driver of Dump Truck No. 31, the report read.

The truck supposedly burned 200 liters of fuel at both assignments where it was listed as operational for a total of 30.5 hours or a combined 61 hours on four days on two different work sites.

Meanwhile, Road Roller No. 5 duplicated the simultaneous appearance of Dump Truck No. 31 in two different job sites using identical volume of fuel (350 liters).

However, it beat the truck’s records by completing the feat on five consecutive days from October 17 to 21, 2022.

Again, the same driver and equipment mysteriously reported for work on separate locations: “soil compaction at Carolotan Road, Dupax del Sur” at one end and “compaction of the surface of road for the gravelling of Sinapaoan-Bantinan-Canabuan Road” on the other.

For both jobs, the road roller burned 350 liters for a total of 700 liters and rendered 38.5 hours of service twice or a combined 77 hours.

“Examination of the Equipment Daily Utilization (EDU) reports, …revealed duplicate EDUs for Dump Truck #31 and Road Roller #5, thus doubling their utilization. The duplicate EDUs showed two different activities conducted within the same period at different destinations by the same equipment,” the state auditors noted.

A closer look at the documents however showed tell-tale signs that raised red flags for auditors.

“Further scrutiny revealed that different handwritings and signatures were used by the same operator/driver, which indicates dishonesty and fraud. It seemed that the duplicate EDUs were deliberately fabricated to substantiate and cover the excessive fuel issued,” they pointed out.

According to the auditors said it is “highly improbable” that all 37 heavy equipment were listed as operating from seven to eight hours every day.

“Verification of the Monthly Report of Fuel Consumption submitted by the PGSO, revealed tremendous quantity of fuels consumed for heavy equipment every month ranging from 20,050 to 24,160 liters a month, costing about one million pesos to two million pesos,” the Commission on Audit noted.

The provincial officials assured COA that they will comply with the recommendation to initiate an investigation to determine if any irregularity occurred in the reporting of fuel consumption for its heavy equipment fleet.