National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcelino P. Escalada, Jr., clarified, “There were no payments nor overpayments made to R-II Builders, Inc. (RBI),” the contractors of the Smokey Mountain Development and Reclamation Project (SMDRP) in its Compromise Agreement.

The Commission on Audit (COA), in one of its reports, alleges that NHA has overpaid RBI despite the agreement being approved by the Court of Appeals (CA) in one of their resolutions that questioned its validity.

The said Compromise Agreement was a resolution conducted by NHA and RBI as a settlement to one of their disputes regarding the implementation of the aforementioned project.

According to GM Escalada, the CA resolution, gives him the authority to execute the payment. But in a letter from the Office of the President, addressed to the GM, it advised the NHA to rather obtain the recommendation of COA on the settlement of RBI’s claims, which will be subject to the approval of the President and the Congress, citing the provisions of Executive Order 92 or the Administrative Code of 1987.

GM Escalada, in a statement also mentioned, “I have written to COA regarding their recommendation on the claim.”