The COA said that investigating possible graft in government agencies wasn’t part of its mandate.
On Friday, the Commission on Audit (COA) said that investigating possible graft in government agencies wasn’t part of its mandate.
It was Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go who asked about the process of flagging corruption or anomalies in the audit reports.
In response to the senator, COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo said that state auditors will specify in the annual audit report if they noticed any irregularity. He also said that the COA’s mandate was primarily to examine, to audit, and to settle accounts.
“Kung may makita sila, ilalabas po ‘yan…Siguro maganda sigurong banggitin na ang mandato po ng Commission on Audit ay hindi naman to probe corruption. Ang mandato po namin is primarily to examine, audit, and settle accounts,” Aguinaldo said.
Aguinaldo’s statement was made during the continuation of the Senate blue ribbon hearing on the government’s alleged irregular procurement of pandemic supplies.
READ ALSO: No Stopping Blue Ribbon From Investigating Alleged Gov’t Misuse Of Pandemic Response Funds — Sotto
He added that if they flagged corruption in the transactions, they’ll refer it to the proper body.
“Kung may makita po kaming corruption, ire-refer po namin ‘yan sa proper body. Normally po, sa Ombudsman namin nire-refer ‘yun, kung may makita ‘yung mga auditor namin na indication of fraud or corruption, ire-refer po ‘yan,” Aguinaldo said.
The Senate blue ribbon committee was currently focusing its investigation on the transfer of Department of Health’s PHP 42 billion pandemic response fund to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM-PS) without a memorandum of agreement.
This was one of the major deficiencies that were flagged by the audit body in Department of Health’s use of its pandemic response funds.
COA said in its 2020 annual audit report that those deficiencies contributed to the challenges encountered and missed opportunities by the Department of Health (DOH) during the time of the state of calamity or national emergency and cast doubts on the regularity of related transactions.
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