Martires: We’re not protecting erring govt officials
TWO days after asking the House of Representatives to bar public access to Audit Observation Memoranda (AOMs) on government spending, Ombudsman Samuel Martires yesterday said he misspoke because what he actually wanted kept confidential were the Annual Audit Reports (AARs).
In a clarificatory statement, the Ombudsman said his request is not intended to protect erring and corrupt government officials and employees.
He explained the AARs contain audit findings that are not conclusive since these are still subject to appeal.
“The Office of the Ombudsman takes this opportunity to assuage the valid concerns of the public. The Office is fully committed to pursuing its mandate as protectors of the people by ensuring its processes are fully aligned with integrity, transparency, and accountability in public service,” the anti-corruption body said.
But in his explanation before the House Committee on Appropriations, Martires voiced out his frustration that the publication of the audit report creates the perception that officials of agencies with red-flagged transactions are tainted by corruption.
He added that when the complaints based on such audit reports are filed with the Ombudsman and later dismissed for lack of substance or evidence, the office gets accused of taking bribes to drop cases.
However, Martires’ clarification that he was after barring public access to AARs rather than just AOMs would practically disembowel the Commission on Audit.
An AOM is an official communication from the auditors to agency officials that a transaction may have strayed from established guidelines or is deficient in the required documentation. It affords the agency an opportunity to provide documentary support and offer justification for its actions.
On the other hand, AARs are yearly reports covering the financial condition, performance, and operations of national government agencies, local government units, and all government corporations.
While an AOM can be as short as two pages, an AAR can contain upwards of a thousand pages, depending on how big the audited agency is.
What the Ombudsman wants to keep confidential are audit reports covering 319 national government offices starting from all the major departments down to the attached offices; 1,715 local government units (82 provinces 1,489 municipalities, 149 cities); 165 government corporations (including state-owned banks, pension fund, government-run hospitals), and 488 water districts.
Although Martires complained about adverse findings on transactions of government agencies, his statement was limited to only a tiny part of the AARs.
The audit reports also cover Compliance Audits (whether the laws and regulations were duly observed), Performance Audits (whether the programs or projects implemented are delivering the intended benefits), and value-for-money audits (whether public funds are optimally utilized).
The Ombudsman made no mention of any of these.
Martires said instead of the AARs, the COA should only publish the Final Audit Reports.
There is one tiny problem in this recommendation: Among numerous issuances coming from the COA, there is no such thing as a Final Audit Report.
PROPOSAL SHOT DOWN
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday shot down the proposal of the Ombudsman on the non-publication of COA’s audit observation memoranda (AOMs), saying: “No need. We have to retain this rule.”
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said doing away with the publication of AOMs “will only weaken the government’s ability to promptly flag and investigate irregularities involving public money.”
She said Congress has “many good reasons” for the publication of AOMs, saying it satisfies the need for transparency on all levels of the public audit process.
She said it is the COA’s constitutional mandate to examine and audit how public funds are used hence, the release of AOMs enables further scrutiny of public funds.
Hontiveros said audit observations “have been historically important in getting to the bottom of issues” like the discovery of irregularities in the purchase of the P10 billion worth of anti-COVID-19 equipment from Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Inc., the irregularities in the UNIFAST program of the Commission on Higher Education, the purchase of overpriced laptops by the Department of Education, and the discovery of wasted COVID-19 vaccines from the Department of Health.
She said the audit observations were made by the hardworking men and women of COA and its non-publication would just be a waste of their efforts and people’s money.
“Let us all remember that every single peso in public funds belongs to the Filipino people. It is the right of every citizen to be part of the process to know how public funds have been spent,” she added.
But Sen. Imee Marcos offered a different opinion, saying the Ombudsman’s proposal is “a worthy consideration.”
“COA reports should not be weaponized,” Marcos said.
‘SHOCKING’
Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) said she was “shocked” by Martires’ clarification, saying asking Congress to stop the COA from publishing its Annual Audit Report (AAR) “is even worse than his initial statement when he said that the COA should not publish its Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM).”
“What’s this? They even want the audit report to be confidential?” said Castro, reminding Martires the AARs are normally used by media, non-government organizations and other corruption watchdogs “to see if indeed government agencies and officials are using taxpayer’s money judiciously and are not enriching themselves.”
In fact, she said, “many anomalies in government were exposed due to the COA AARs like that of the Pharmally scam, the DepEd laptop overpricing and even the P125 million unauthorized OVP confidential fund.”
Castro also reminded the Ombudsman of Article IX-D, Section 4 of the Constitution which states: “The Commission (on Audit) shall submit to the President and the Congress, within the time fixed by law, an annual report covering the financial condition and operation of the Government, its subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations, and non-governmental entities subject to its audit, and recommend measures necessary to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. It shall submit such other reports as may be required by law.”
She also cited Article III, Section 7: “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as the basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.”
Castro also quoted Article XI, Section 1 which states that: “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people.”
“These should be upheld and transparency is for the best of our people,” Castro said. — With Wendell Vigilia and Raymond Africa
