THE Climate Change Commission (CCC), the government agency tasked to come up with policies to address problems caused by climate change, has no energy conservation program of its own.
Worse, government auditors said several service vehicles in CCC’s fleet have posted high monthly fuel consumption.
Compounding the problem is the lack of proper recordkeeping when it comes to filing monthly reports on fuel consumption and approved trip tickets which were either submitted late or incomplete.
The Commission on Audit (COA) said only four vehicles of the CCC accounted for 61.42 percent of the P1.15 million total fuel expenses of the agency in 2022.
A Toyota Grandia van (Plate No. S4 0466) topped the 2022 list of fuel expenses at P358,355.87 or 31.09 percent of the total.
Based on records obtained by the audit team, the same vehicle burned 812.69 liters in April last year or an average of 40.63 liters each day equivalent to 365.71 kilometers.
For the whole of 2022, the said vehicle averaged 453.87 liters of fuel consumption equivalent to more than 200 kilometers travelled per day.
“We observed a vehicle where consumption is too much above the rest. This indicated the need on the part of the CCC in adopting measures toward energy conservation,” auditors noted.
A Toyota Innova (Plate No. SHY 899), on the other hand, spent P156,689.91 or 13.59 percent.
“Inquiry with the OIC division chief of the Administrative and Finance Division (AFD) disclosed that there were no internal policies and guidelines on the limit or allocation of fuel consumption of the agency,” the COA said.
The existing practice in the agency is for the driver to get a gas slip from the Transport Utility Management Unit (TUMU) of the AFD if any vehicle needs to be refueled.
On the other hand, agency personnel on official travel usually pay out-of-pocket for fuel which may be reimbursed later.
Being the lead agency on mitigating the adverse effects of climate change, the COA said the CCC should be a role model in advancing energy conservation program to lessen the effects of carbon footprint.
The CCC agreed with COA’s recommendation to establish a clear-cut program on energy conservation including guidelines fuel usage and consumption.
It likewise vowed to tighten policies on the submission of trip tickets and monthly fuel consumption reports to have a better control on proper utilization of agency resources.
