Friday, April 29, 2011

Audit commission dips fingers into AFP intelligence fund

INTELLIGENCE FUNDS of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will now be subject to state audit, the Commission on Audit (CoA) chief yesterday said, setting aside a long-established practice of keeping auditors at bay when it comes to accounting the budgetary item.

"We are set to meet with AFP officials [yesterday afternoon] to discuss the audit of the intelligence funds," Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan, CoA chairperson, said in a press conference in Quezon City yesterday.

The audit comes after the AFP voluntarily opened the funds to scrutiny. A Department of National Defense panel investigating alleged corruption in the military has recommended CoA review of the fund.

Intelligence and confidential funds are not subject to regular audit requirements.

Ms. Tan said she will personally lead an audit team to ensure confidentiality.

"We will keep this confidential. People of trust and confidence will be responsible for the audit," she said.

She also commended the AFP "for coming out with expression of support. We hope other agencies will be like that. It will make our jobs easier.

In a related development, House Bill 4127, or the proposed Intelligence and Confidential Funds Transparency Act, has been filed by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro A. Casiño, Jr.

"[Lack of audit on intelligence funds] has rendered these funds open to the misuse and abuse of those who are charged with the utilization of these funds granted to numerous government agencies, usually the generals closest to the Commander-in-Chief," he said in the bill’s explanatory note.


source

Audit commission dips fingers into AFP intelligence fund

INTELLIGENCE FUNDS of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will now be subject to state audit, the Commission on Audit (CoA) chief yesterday said, setting aside a long-established practice of keeping auditors at bay when it comes to accounting the budgetary item.

"We are set to meet with AFP officials [yesterday afternoon] to discuss the audit of the intelligence funds," Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan, CoA chairperson, said in a press conference in Quezon City yesterday.

The audit comes after the AFP voluntarily opened the funds to scrutiny. A Department of National Defense panel investigating alleged corruption in the military has recommended CoA review of the fund.

Intelligence and confidential funds are not subject to regular audit requirements.

Ms. Tan said she will personally lead an audit team to ensure confidentiality.

"We will keep this confidential. People of trust and confidence will be responsible for the audit," she said.

She also commended the AFP "for coming out with expression of support. We hope other agencies will be like that. It will make our jobs easier.

In a related development, House Bill 4127, or the proposed Intelligence and Confidential Funds Transparency Act, has been filed by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro A. Casiño, Jr.

"[Lack of audit on intelligence funds] has rendered these funds open to the misuse and abuse of those who are charged with the utilization of these funds granted to numerous government agencies, usually the generals closest to the Commander-in-Chief," he said in the bill’s explanatory note.


source

COA to put up citizens’ desk

QUEZON CITY, April 27 (PIA) – The new chair of the Commission on Audit is putting up a feedback mechanism system in the commission including a citizens’ desk to partner with the Filipino masses to combat graft and corrupt practices in government.

COA Chief Maria Gracia Pulido-tan said the desk’s structure is still being mapped-out, but pointed out that it will act on complaints with focus on deliverables. “This will be part of the feedback mechanism wherein yung mga sumbong ay may mangyayari (complaints will definitely find corresponding action)," she said.

The citizens’ desk will be the peoples’ platform for complaints and valuable information on how government money is being spent as well as suggestions for effective measures and actions. The chair assures that the citizens’ desk will act on these information minus the “fear of getting harassed” for “tipsters”.

Aside from this, Pulido-Tan is also focused on the problem of overstaying auditors in various offices of the government. She said, based on the existing COA rule, officials occupying the Director position and higher are given one to two years of assignment tenure, while frontliners – or ordinary auditors – are allowed to stay in their agency assignment for five to 10 years.

“We will look into this because I think there is a discrepancy in the schedule of office assignment tenure,” she said. On her first day of office, Pulido-Tan has already asked for a report on COA personnel assignment which she expects to receive next week.

With the enormous amount of work at COA, she wished time is “more than 24 hours in a day” to accomplish it. She also denied pressures, coming from forces inside or outside COA, saying, “I don’t feel pressured to perform. I give my job my best shot.”

Pulido-Tan revealed that she spent a prayerful two weeks contemplating on accepting the position. In her silent moments, she shared, she realized she is being led by God to COA to “walk her thoughts” in public service, inspite knowing that she would loose her privacy and earn less money.

“I am used with ‘daang matuwid’ in private practice. But I know I needed to walk my thoughts. And, God has showed me the way,” she said. (RJB/DBNV-PIA NCR)


source

New COA chief says people's participation a must to initiate reform

QUEZON CITY, April 27 (PIA) -- Newly appointed Commission of Audit (COA) chairperson Atty. Ma. Gracia M. Pulido-Tan on Wednesday said that she is seeking to institutionalize public participation to strengthen the agency's capability in enforcing accountability in government.

According to Tan, who was a guest at the Communications and Exchange Forum with members of media at the Philippine Information Agency in Quezon City, it is important to recognize the people’s role in ensuring that their taxes go to appropriate projects and programs of government in line with the Aquino administration's principle of transparency.

"We have to include everyone, everyone has a stake. Pati nga mga mamamayan gusto kong isama sa proseso, kasi COA is a constitutional body, it is the COA of the people," she said as she cited the people’s participation in the affairs of the state as enshrined in our Constitution.

As she vowed to beef up COA's capability through reforms and more effective audit and accounting systems, Tan said that part of her plan is to create citizen's desks where the public can go and file their complaints or share with COA any valuable information about any alleged anomaly in a particular government agency.

She likewise, assured would-be complainants and whistleblowers that their identities will be kept secured and protected from any form of harassment, adding that COA will promptly act on any complaint filed.

"Isa sa aking plano ay ang magtatag ng citizen's desk kung saan pwede nilang dalhin ang kanilang mga nalalaman o ang kanilang mga kahilingan na wala silang fear na hindi sila maha-harass at the same time they can expect that we can take action," she said.

Although Tan was appointed by President Aquino Monday last week, she said that she will also look and evaluate all COA resident auditors assigned in different government agencies and immediately order for a reshuffle if she finds out that an auditor has "overstayed" his length of service in an agency.

"Hindi magandang nagtatagal ang isang auditor sa ahensya," she said. (It does not bode well for the agency to have an auditor overstay in an officea) (RJB/JCP-PIA NCR)


source

COA to review residency of state auditors

MANILA, Philippines - Newly-appointed Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan will look into the residency of its auditors as most of them are already overstaying in their posts.

Under COA rules, a director-level auditor can only stay in a government agency for 1-3 years while a resident auditor's term is 5-10 years.

Tan has already asked for a list of auditors and how long they have stayed in their current posts.

"We can shorten the allowed period. Gusto ko kasi mas definite yung tenure. Minsan kasi, kaya nagtatagal dahil may fields of specialization at hindi naman lahat ay may ganong capability,” she said.

Nonetheless, she said “we will review the residency of auditors. Hindi kasi maganda na nagtatagal sa isang agency lang."

Tan said she also plans to come up with a citizen's desk where the public can inform the agency of any anomalous transaction that needs to be investigated.

"Malaki ang magagawa ng mga mamamayan,sa citizen's desk pwede nilang isumbong ang mga nalalaman nila na katiwalian para maimbestigahan namin and they can expect that we will take action."

Tan however declined to give more details as the proposal is still being studied.

source

COA to audit AFP funds

MANILA, Philippines - Newly-installed Commission on Audit Chairperson Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan said the commission will soon start an in-depth investigation into the anomalous funds in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The widespread corruption there was first revealed by auditor Heidi Mendoza, who was also recently appointed as COA commissioner.

Meanwhile, COA auditors are ready to testify in the trial for the ouster of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

She said the whole commission fully supports its state auditors, some of whom will have to face the Senate in May.

She said it is the duty of the commission to fight corruption, and it is already a usual process that auditors face trial and serve as witnesses.

source

COA eyes audit of OWWA fund diversion

MANILA, Philippines - Newly-installed Commission on Audit Chairperson Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan is looking at the possibility of conducting a new audit on the P530 million Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds allegedly diverted for the funding of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s 2004 campaign.

In a press conference, Tan said she has yet to determine if the said fund was already covered by the audit previously done in 2006.

She admitted that the audit then did not indicate that the transfers were anomalous.

Former Solicitor General Francisco “Frank” Chavez on Tuesday filed plunder charges against the former President, former executive secretary Alberto Romulo, Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Francisco Duque III and former administrator Virgilio Angelo of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) of qualified theft, graft and corruption, and violations of the Constitution, Revised Penal Code and the Omnibus Election Code.

Arroyo was accused of diverting about P530 million in OWWA funds to her 2004 presidential campaign.

Chavez said Executive Order 182, issued in 2003, allowed for the transfer of more than P530 million in OWWA funds to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth). He claimed Arroyo was then able to distribute PhilHealth cards before the presidential elections.

"Kung yung paglipat ng funds from one agency to another, hindi naman yun kasalanan kasi it was covered by an EO coming from former President Arroyo. The President has broad plenary powers,” Tan admitted.

“Ngayon, kung ang question ay kung labag ba yun sa mandate ng OWWA, that is beyond our mandate. Yun circumstances is now a part of a court case. Hindi ko na masasagot iyon,” she added.


source

COA: Nothing wrong with OWWA fund transfer, but…

MANILA, Philippines - There may be nothing wrong with fund transfers from one government unit to another, but a new audit is a must to check whether these were used for its intended purpose.

In an interview with ANC, Commission on Audit Chairperson Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan said the transfer of P530 million in Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is not an offense but “as to attendant circumstances of what happened to that transfer is a different story.”

Former Solicitor General Francisco “Frank” Chavez on Tuesday filed plunder complaints against the former President, former executive secretary Alberto Romulo, Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Francisco Duque III and former administrator Virgilio Angelo of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) of qualified theft, graft and corruption, and violations of the Constitution, Revised Penal Code and the Omnibus Election Code.

Arroyo was accused of diverting about P530 million in OWWA funds to her 2004 presidential campaign.

Chavez said Executive Order 182, issued in 2003, allowed for the transfer of more than P530 million in OWWA funds to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth). He claimed Arroyo was then able to distribute PhilHealth cards before the presidential elections.

Tan said the original COA report was specific on the fact that the fund transfer was done in 2005. This will run contrary to claims by Chavez that it was used for the 2004 campaign.

She said, however, “I’m looking for the audit team who took care of PhilHealth during that period to find out if there was any audit made [and] to check how the money transferred was spent, if at all.”

Tan said the EO was specific on how the funds will be used and “we need to see if that was followed.”

source

COA's Heidi to pork barrel recipients: Beware

WASHINGTON – Pork barrel recipients in the Philippines: be careful, be very careful.

Heidi Mendoza, newly appointed commissioner said the Commission on Audit (COA) is putting into place mechanisms to examine the pork barrel allocations of members of Congress to bring transparency to a process that has been mired in corruption almost from its inception.

She declined to give details or discuss when the audits would start.

Mendoza, invited to attend World Bank discussions on corruption, told a forum attended by mostly Filipino bank employees that the COA was planning to set up a legal fund to take care of the legal expenses of government auditors so as not to inhibit them from doing their jobs.

She said as part of concerted efforts by President Aquino’s administration to fight corruption, a bill has been filed in Congress to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to give it more teeth to investigate and prosecute money laundering offenses.

President Aquino appointed Mendoza as COA commissioner on April 5, the same post she resigned from in 2005 in frustration over the glacial pace of the corruption investigation against former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

She will take her oath of office on May 23 for a term expiring in February 2018.

A press statement issued by the organizers of the World Bank discussion on “Effective auditing as the bane of grand corruption” described her as a career public official who works tirelessly to identify and root out corruption.

Unable to pursue the case (against Garcia) through the COA, she spoke out to the public, risking her life and career, and her testimony ultimately led to formal charges being filed against Garcia, the statement said.

Mendoza was greeted enthusiastically by World Bank employees when she walked into the conference room accompanied by Sheila Coronel, professor of Investigative Journalism at Columbia University and former executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

“Mabuhay ka,” shouted the Pinoys.

Mendoza spoke of the challenges and difficulties and temptations that have faced her over the years in her battle against corruption.

In the early 1990s, she said, during an audit of the governor of the autonomous region of Mindanao, she was offered half-a-million pesos for every time she did not attend a court hearing.

Before flying to Mindanao she was told she would either end up dead or become rich.

“I was not given the opportunity of choosing an option,” she said in a light vein.

She spoke of the numerous times she and her family had to move house, of the difficulty of traveling with six bodyguards and of the treachery of people “I thought had my back.”


source