THE Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), the agency tasked with the enforcement of the country’s cyber security plans, cannot make heads and tails of its own budget.
In its 2021 report on the CICC, the Commission on Audit said the Budget Section was unable to undertake budget execution, monitoring, and reporting in accordance with the guidelines in the Government Accounting Manual (GAM).
“The processes and procedures …were not followed due to lack of sufficient training of personnel in the Budget Unit thereby affecting the reliability and completeness of the various accountability reports/records,” the audit team said.
For 2021, CICC spent a total of P46.223 million in its operations of which P32.53 million went to personnel services, P13.66 million for maintenance and other operating expenses, and P36,339.38 for non-cash expenses.
However, it also received P300 million from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for the creation of the Digital Forensic Platform and Laboratory covered by a Memorandum of Agreement signed on June 25, 2021.
The CICC management agreed that its present manpower needs training on how to properly account for government funds since none of them know how to prepare documentation for funding requests, liquidation of expenditures, and other documentary requirements.
“The Budget Officer admitted that they do not prepare and maintain the RROR (Registry of Revenue and Other Receipts) or the FAR (financial accountability report) because they are not aware that these have to be prepared,” the COA noted.
The Budget Unit also does not prepare the Reports of Checks Issued (RCI), the reports on Advice to Debit Account (ADA) issued, tax remittance advice, or journal entry voucher and other reference documents.
“According to the Budget Head, she was not aware of the different reports and registries that should be maintained for Trust Funds instead of the usual report of allotments, obligations, and disbursements,” the COA added.
