MANILA, Philippines – The publishing of the annual audit reports will be delayed this year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).
During the House committee on appropriations’ deliberations of the commission’s budget for 2025, COA Assistant Commissioner Alexander Juliano explained the commission’s reason:
“So ‘yong publication lang po sa website ‘yong na-delay, kasi kailangan naming i-validate ‘yong action taken by the agencies doon sa mga audit observations at sa mga implementation no’ng disallowances or charges (So the publication in our website will be delayed because we need to validate the actions taken by the agencies in response to our audit observations and on the implementation of disallowances or charges),” Juliano said in the hearing on Tuesday, August 13.
The COA official said the delay is only for the publication, and not the transmittal of their audit reports to corresponding agencies. Juliano said the date of their transmittal is still June 30.
He explained that the COA “should comply with Section 99” of the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) or the 2023 budget law. For this year, Juliano said the annual audit reports (AARs) will be uploaded by December 1.
Section 99 of the 2023 GAA mandates that all agencies, within 60 days from the receipt of the audit report, should submit a status report on their actions taken on the audit findings and recommendations.
The same provision is present in the 2022 GAA, but COA still began uploading its AARs in June last year. Even in previous years, AARs uploaded as early as June included the explanation agencies.
Before AARs are published, COA auditors first issue an audit observation memorandum (AOM) to flag transactions to agencies confidentially. Agencies can respond to the AOMs and explain the flagged transactions. Government offices may explain until COA has to finalize the AARs in the exit conference usually held between February to March.
Audit on confidential funds
During the COA’s budget deliberations, ACT Teachers Representative France Castro of the progressive Makabayan bloc asked the COA about the status of its audit on the confidential funds given to Vice President Sara Duterte.
Specifically, Castro asked about the status of the audit on Duterte’s P125-million confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2022, P500-million OVP confidential funds in 2023, and Department of Education’s P150-million confidential funds in 2023.
COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba said the OVP and DepEd under Duterte already submitted their liquidation reports, and the COA has accomplished audit actions and findings.
However, Cordoba said they cannot publicly disclose the findings: “Because of the nature of the funds is confidential….‘di po namin madi-disclose (we cannot disclose).”
A legislative inquiry found that contingent funds of the 2022 national budget were transferred to become the OVP’s P125-million confidential funds, which Duterte’s office spent in only 11 days. The Office of the President approved the transfer, and the funds were released by the Department of Budget and Management.
Confidential and intelligence funds are much more difficult to audit as they are exempted from COA’s standard procedures.
Duterte does not have confidential funds this year because Congress denied Duterte’s P650 million-request for confidential funds: P500 million for OVP, and P150 million for DepEd.
At least three groups of petitioners, including former Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio, have filed petitions with the SC to question Duterte’s confidential funds. The petitioners question the transfer, and seek the SC’s help to compel Duterte to return her 2022 confidential funds. – Rappler.com