Inventors poor loan risk, COA auditors find

MANILA, Philippines—Inventing things doesn’t always pay, but inventors still have to pay— their loans, that is.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has found that the beneficiaries of loans totaling P57.548 million from the government’s Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI) had not settled their obligations as of the end of 2010.

The loans—available to Filipino inventors to finance any patented, duly-certified invention—had been outstanding for over a decade because TAPI had not been collecting them, the COA said in its 2010 annual report.

TAPI is an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology that promotes the commercialization of technologies and markets the services of other operating units of the DOST. It also accredits inventors’ associations, helps them get access to research facilities, and provides grants for new or emerging projects, among other functions.

The COA noted that of the outstanding loans, P37.764 million was covered by real estate and P25.784 million was covered by chattel mortgages. It said TAPI should foreclose on the properties.

It further said that TAPI should take legal action against the borrowers to recover the money.

The COA found that TAPI, through the Development Bank of the Philippines, had provided loans totaling P70.898 million to 15 inventors since 1998. Of the 15, only two had repaid their loans.

It noted the DBP had relinquished the collection of payments to TAPI.

While the balance of the loans stood at P57.548 million as of the end of 2010, penalties and interest had raised the total to P191.433 million.

The COA said that after policy guidelines on loan restructuring were approved in 2003, four inventors restructured their loans, but they had been unable to repay the principal.

TAPI also met with the inventors several times, but of the 13 who had balances, only one started to repay his loan.

TAPI is now talking to lawyers to act as its collection agents and take legal remedies against the borrowers.

Aside from the outstanding loans, the COA also learned that TAPI had failed to collect P56.095 million in financial assistance in the form of venture financing, prototype development assistance, and pilot plant assistance that it had provided for new and emerging programs.