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MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has scrapped the pre-auditing of all government transactions in an effort to prevent auditors and corrupt officials from getting involved in anomalous deals.
With the new policy, state auditors are barred from approving a program or project before the same is implemented by the concerned department, bureau, division, or office.
COA chief Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan, who made the announcement recently in a speech before the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) in Makati City, said getting rid of the pre-audit system is in line with the Aquino administration’s fight against graft and corruption.
Tan explained that while the intentions of pre-audit were laudable, its implementation opens the door to the idea of so-called “secret agreements.”
“For one, its very nature and purpose – which is essentially an approval process of a transaction before it can be carried out – gave rise to myriad reports that a quid pro quo between the agency and our auditors take place every now and then, for without COA’s approval, the transaction cannot proceed,” she said.
Tan said pre-audit has placed a big burden on auditors who are genuinely cautious and thorough because in their bid for time to make a decision, certain government projects are delayed which result in consequent penalties.
“The COA has been perceived as ‘obstructionist’ or, at the other end of the spectrum, ‘nagpapapresyo (trying to set a price or bribe). So either way, damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” she said.
According to Tan, pre-audit has also taken a considerable portion of government auditors’ time that could have been devoted to meticulous regular audits.
COA’s review of the pre-audit practice revealed that since 2009, more than 500,000 government transactions were pre-audited involving a total amount of more than P535 billion.
Of these transactions, Tan said 87 percent were given “outright approval,” 11 percent were “approved after compliance with auditor requirements,” and only about one percent were denied or rejected.
“These figures would indicate that we managed to save government about P5.35 billion only. Surely, there must be less invasive and burdensome ways by which to achieve the same result, if not better,” she said.
Tan disclosed that COA is also planning to stop the practice of assigning resident auditors to government agencies, which will be replaced by a “visitorial” system. She said the move is aimed at preventing resident auditors from getting involved in anomalous transactions like in the case of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.
Meanwhile, Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño accused COA of abandoning President Aquino’s “matuwid na daan” (straight path) policy on transparency and accountability by lifting its pre-audit on all government transactions.
“The pre-audit system is supposed to make it more difficult for corrupt officials to steal public funds. Therefore, COA should strengthen it and make it more efficient, instead of removing it,” he said.
He said he would ask COA officials during the appropriations committee hearing today on their 2012 budget to reinstitute the pre-audit system.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said the matter of lifting or keeping pre-audit “is a problematic policy decision for COA members.”
“They don’t have enough personnel to pre-audit transactions. That accounts for the delay in many government projects,” he said.
However, Evardone said the COA should not totally lift its pre-audit system.
“They should keep it in critical government agencies, at least those notorious for corruption,” he said.
Evardone pointed out that the problem with totally lifting pre-audit in favor of post-audit is that corrupt officials have already stolen funds when transactions are subjected to COA examination.
“By then, it would already be difficult to recover stolen funds,” he stressed.
Tan and commissioners Heidi Mendoza and Juanito Espino Jr. signed a COA circular lifting the pre-audit system, saying safeguarding public money is the principal responsibility of government agencies.
Sen. Franklin Drilon said the decision of COA officials to lift the pre-audit of government transactions would speed up the implementation of public projects while still ensuring that there would be no wastage of funds.
Drilon welcomed the move, saying the pre-audit process delays the implementation of government projects.
He noted that the removal of the pre-audit system does not mean that opportunities for corruption would increase since the post-audit process would still be around to ensure this does not happen.
“The removal of the pre-audit will certainly hasten the process of releasing of funds because naturally, with a requirement of pre-audit, the release of funds will be somehow slowed down. The requirement obviously of the pre-audit is to see to it that the funds are not wasted,” Drilon added.
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By: Michael Punongbayan and Jess Diaz with Marvin Sy
Source: The Philippine Star, Aug. 16, 2011
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